La Guiannee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
La Guiannée (or La Guignolée)[1][2][3] is celebrated on December 31 (New Year's Eve). It is a French medieval New Year's Eve tradition dating back to the 1600s[4] that is still practiced in two towns in the United States.[2] The phrase La Guiannée may be derived from au gui l'an neuf, a refrain from the Druidic era.[5]
La Guiannée is similar to the tradition of wassailing[2] and is a "begging quest ritual"[6] in which poor people ask the wealthy for food and drink during winter celebrations. Customarily, a troupe of traveling male singers went from door to door to entertain and ring in the new year. Hosts were expected to give them food and drink. The also requested the presence of the household's oldest daughter, but if no daughter was available, one of the men would dress as a woman to fill the role of la fille aînée (the firstborn daughter).[6] Other sources say the young men were seeking donations for Twelfth Night.[3] Although the practice began as a way for the poor to be given gratuities by the rich, it also became a community social event for young men to visit with the families of young women.
Over time, the practice became an occasion for visiting with relatives and friends and was more or less a traveling feast. At first, only young men, often in costume, performed La Guiannée;[7] women joined some of the modern groups in the 20th century.[6] Many years, the performers appeared in disguise, as part of the celebration was a kind of overturning of the common order.