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Sunday, January 5, 2020

Twelfth Day of Christmas


“Wassail, Wassail, Out of the Milk Pail”

Wassail, wassail, out of the milk pail,
Wassail, wassail as white as my nail,
Wassail, wassail, in snow, frost and hail,
Wassail, wassail, with partridge and rail,
Wassail, wassail, that much doth avail,
Wassail, wassail, that never will fail.

Words: John Bale, About 1548.  Source: Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), pp. 164-5.

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