wassailer
noun [ C ] uk/ˈwɒs.eɪ.lər/ us/ˈwɑː.səl.ɚ/
传报佳音者
especially in the past, a person who takes part in the activity of going from house to house at Christmas time singing carols (= Christmas songs), traditionally drinking wassail (= warm beer or wine with spices added)
As alcohol was involved, wassailers often got too rowdy. 饮酒过后,传报佳音者常常变得过于喧闹。
(过去在圣诞节期间,在果园举行的仪式上,向果树浇热苹果酒,为来年丰收取得好兆头)向果树敬酒的人
a person who took part in a ceremony at Christmas time in the past when wassail (= warm beer or wine with spices added)was poured on the trees in an orchard (= an area of land where fruit trees are grown) in order to encourage the trees to produce a good crop the next year
Cider is poured over the roots of the tree and the wassailers circle the tree chanting: Stand fast root, bear well top. 苹果酒浇在树根上,向果树敬酒的人围绕着树吟唱道:树根站稳,树顶结果。
- More examples
- Boisterous wassailers are one reason why Oliver Cromwell and Long Parliament passed an ordinance in 1647 that essentially banned Christmas.
- We may now be more likely to hear them blasting out of supermarket sound systems than from the lips of wassailers in the streets, but carols remain central to the experience of Christmas.
- The tradition of wassailers going from door to door, singing and drinking the health of those they visited went back to medieval times.
- On Twelfth Night wassailers hang toasted bread on their most productive apple tree to attract the robins which are traditionally held to be good spirits.