{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/celt/prwe/prwe229.htm","path":"neu/celt/prwe/prwe229.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/prwe/prwe229.htm","text":"IN the eastern part of Cornwall, and in western Devonshire, it was the custom to take a milk-panful of cider, into which roasted apples had been broken, into the orchard This was placed as near the centre of the orchard as possible, and each person, taking a \" clomben\" cup of the drink, goes to different apple-trees, and addresses them as follows:--\nHealth to the good apple-tree; \nWell to bear, pocketfuls, hatfuls, \nPeckfuls, bushel-bagfuls.\"\nDrinking part of the contents of the cup, the remainder, with the fragments of the roasted apples, is thrown at the tree, all the company shouting aloud. Another account tells us, \"In certain parts of Devonshire, the farmer, attended by his workmen, goes to the orchard this evening; and there, encircling one of the best-bearing trees, they drink the following toast three times--\nHere 's to thee, old apple-tree;\nHence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow, \nAnd whence thou mayst bear apples enow!\nHats full caps full\nBushel, bushel-sacks full!\nAnd my pockets full, too! Huzza!'\nThis done, they return to the house, tile doors of which they are sure to find bolted by the females, who, be the weather what it may, are inexorable to all entreaties to open them, till some one has guessed what is on the spit, which is generally some nice little thing difficult to be hit on, and is the reward of him who first names it. The doors are then thrown open, and the lucky clodpole receives the tit-bjt as his recompense. Some are so superstitious as to believe that if they neglect this custom, the trees will bear no apples that year.\" [a]\nChristmas-eve was selected in some parts of England as the occasion for wishing health to the apple-tree. Apples were roasted on a string until they fell into a pan of spiced ale, placed to receive them. This drink was called lamb's-wool, and with it the trees were wassailed, as in Devonshire and Cornwall.\nHerrick alludes to the custom:--\n\"Wassaile the trees, that they may beare\nYou many a plum, and many a peare;\nFor more or lease fruits they will bring,\nAnd you do give them wassailing.\"\nMay not Shakespeare refer to this?--\n\"Sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl,\nIn very likeness of a roasted crab;\nAnd when she drinks, against her lips I bob,\nAnd on her wither'd dew-lap pour the ale.\"\n--Midsummer Night's Dream.\nIn some localities apples are blessed on St James's Day, July 25.\n[a] Hone's \"Every-Day Book.\"","title":"Customs of Ancient Days: Drinking the Apple-Trees on Twelfth-Night Eve","type":"page"}