the antiquities of "Our English Villages," I pointed out that the
Church was the centre of the life of the old village--not only of
its religious life, but also of its secular every-day life. This is
true also with regard to the amusements of the people. The festival
of the saint, to whom the parish church was dedicated, was
celebrated with much rejoicing. The annual fair was held on that
day, when, after their business was ended, friends and neighbours
met together and took part in some of the sports and pastimes which
I shall try to describe. The other holidays of the year were
generally regulated by the Church's calendar, the great
festivals--Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday---being all
duly observed. I propose to record in these pages the principal
sports, pastimes, and customs which our forefathers delighted in
during each month of the year, the accounts of which are not only
amusing, but add to our historical knowledge, and help us to realize
something of the old village life of rural England.

We will begin with New Year's Day[1]. It was an ancient Saxon custom
to begin the year by sending presents to each other. On New Year's
Eve the wassail bowl of spiced ale was carried round from house to
house by the village maidens, who sang songs and wished every one "A
Happy New Year." "Wassail" is an old Saxon word, meaning "Be in
health." Rowena, the daughter of the Saxon king Hengist, offered a
flowing bowl to the British king Vortigern, welcoming him with the
words, "Lloured King Wassheil." In Devonshire and Sussex it was the
custom to wassail the orchards; a troop of boys visited the
orchards, and, encircling the apple-trees, they sang the words--

"Stand fast, bear well top,
Pray God send us a howling crop;