Saturday Matinee: Gone Medieval
episodePreviously titled “1273: Saturday Matinee: Gone Medieval” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
Transcript
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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The holiday season is upon us, and with it comes a bundle of traditions that we observe but may not understand. Why do we kiss under the mistletoe? What is mistletoe? Why do we decorate Christmas trees? Why trees? Why is gingerbread almost exclusively a holiday treat when it's so obviously delicious all year round? Every region has its peculiar fashions and cuisine, too. In Italy, there's Panettone and the Feast of Seven Fishes, unless you're in Sicily, where it's 12 fishes. There are Christmas puddings, mince pies, fruitcakes and yule logs, mulled wine and eggnog, Advent calendars, Christmas cards, caroling and wassailing. And what's that? Every year, we sing Here We Come a Wassailing, but don't really know what it is.
So on today's Saturday matinee, we're bringing you an episode from the podcast Gone Medieval, which explores this ancient tradition rooted deep in medieval folklore. I hope you enjoy. While you're listening, be sure to search for and follow Gone Medieval. We put a link in the show notes to make it easy for you.
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What holiday traditions and questions introduce today's episode on wassailing?
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Hello, I'm Matt Lewis. Welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit, the podcast that delves into the greatest millennium in human history. We've got the most intriguing mysteries, the gobsmacking details and latest groundbreaking research from the Vikings to the printing press, from kings to popes to the Crusades. We cross centuries and continents to delve into rebellions, plots and murders to find the stories, big and small, that tell us how we got here. Find out who we really were with Gone Medieval. Now, you might be thinking that all the Christmas and New Year festivities are done and dusted for another year. And you took your decorations down on 12th night by the 5th of January, right? So they're all boxed up for the next 11 months or so until it all comes round again.
Well, you'd be right, but there are some people and parts of Britain that still celebrate old Twelfth Night on the 17th of January. It's the time when folks go out to sing to local apple trees. Yes, that's right, sing to the trees and eat king cake or Twelfth Night cakes. In a New Year act of generosity on the part of the High Lord of History Hit Towers, Dr. Eleanor Yarnager and I have been let out of the gone medieval dungeon and we're being transported to deepest, darkest Devon for a very special treat.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:53
2
What holiday traditions and questions introduce today's episode on wassailing?
2:53–20:44
3
What is wassailing and how did the Halstow wassail event originate?
20:44–33:38
4
How has the meaning and practice of wassailing evolved from medieval times to today?
33:38–44:13
5
How was the modern Halstow wassail created and who organized its revival?
44:13–49:33