​Wassail (Middle English wæs hæl, literally 'good health' or 'be you healthy') refers both to the salute 'Waes Hail' and to the drink of wassail, a hot mulled cider traditionally drunk as an integral part of wassailing, an ancient southern English drinking ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest the following year. At the end of the wassail guns with blank charges were fired into fruit trees.

The Sugar Wassail oginates in Sussex, one of the southern counties of England.