Guise dancing

Guise dancing (sometimes known as goose, goosey or geese dancing) is a folk practice celebrated between Christmas Day and Twelfth Night (traditionally also Plough Monday, and some parish feasts) in Cornwall, England, UK. The principal activities associated with guise dancing are the performance of 'traditional' Christmas plays such as Duffy and the Bucca or St George and the Turkish Knight and traditional Cornish dance, music and song. The performers dress in a disguise to hide their identity allowing them to perform in an outlandish or mischievous manner in the hope of receiving payment of food or money.

Historical description

Guise dancing was observed in the late 19th century by Cornish antiquarian M. A. Courtney who reported that the practice had been largely eliminated by 1890 in Penzance due to a decline in the traditional nature of the celebrations and a rise in anti-social behaviour, the practice however could be found in St Ives, Newlyn and Mousehole St Ives finally ceasing in the 1970s. Mummer's Day in Padstow is considered by many to be the last form of traditional Guise dancing left, but is distinguished by the use of different music and the lack of masks, which are replaced by blackened faces.

Guise

Guise is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.

Population

Sights

The ruins of the medieval castle of Guise, seat of the Dukes of Guise, are located in the commune.

Economy

Guise is the agricultural centre of the northern area of Aisne.

Miscellaneous

Guise was the birthplace of Camille Desmoulins (1760–1794), a journalist and politician who played an important part in the French Revolution.

Over a period of 20 years, beginning about 1856, Jean-Baptiste Godin built Le Familistère (the Social Palace), an industrial and communal residential complex that was a separate community within Guise. It expressed many of his ideas about developing social sympathy through improved housing and services for workers and their families, influenced by the ideas of the philosopher Charles Fourier. In 1880 Godin created a cooperative association by which the workers owned and managed the complex. This continued until 1968.

On the 29th of August 1914 the Battle of St. Quentin (1914) was fought in and around the town. A memorial in Guise celebrates this event.

Guise (disambiguation)

Guise is a commune in France. Guise may also refer to:

People

Other uses

See also

Guise (name)

Guise is a surname possibly derived from the Guise baronets of England or from Guise, commune in France. It is less commonly used as a given name. Notable people with the name include:

Given name

Surname

See also