WassailIn the Old days on festive occasions, by English tradition the family would drink "lamb's Wool", a spiced ale, saying, in Saxon "Wass Hael": To your health. The bowl from which they drank became known as the Wassail Bowl.1907 President Theodore Roosevelt shakes 8513 Happy New Year hands, a record.1856 First train in Africa, between Alexandria and Ciaro.New Years Day traditionsIn Rio de Janerio, thousands of candles burn on beaches in honour of the Sea Queen. Women in white roses cast flower petals into the water. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of In Spain and Portugal, New Year celebrants eat a grape for each chime of the clock at midnight. which was dated Saints Day St. Fulgentius, St. Odilo, St. Almachus, St. Moncain, St. Mochua. during the reign of Birthdays Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797), and Maria Edgeworth (1768 - Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.1849).