Excessive wassailing is no excuse for a sick day

You owe the audience member who mentioned singing to the trees an apology. This is considered one of the accepted definitions of “wassailing:” The orchard-visiting wassail refers to the ancient custom of visiting orchards in cider-producing regions of England, reciting incantations and singing to the trees to promote a good harvest for the coming year. Also, to your panelists who mentioned drinks and gifts, another accepted definition is: The house-visiting wassail is the practice of people going door-to-door, singing and offering a drink from the wassail bowl in exchange for gifts. This practice still exists, but has largely been displaced by caroling.

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