Guillannée, La (La Gui-Annee)

DESCRIPTION: A (new year's) revel song, in which the singers demand pork-chine, or else the daughter of the house. Guillannee is mistletoe. In English this becomes "La Gui-Annee"; the singers declare "We've come to ask for mistletoe on this last day of the old year."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety); according to McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, a version was copyrighted by Mrs. Charles P. Johnson in that same year
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage nonballad party father children
FOUND IN: US(MW, So) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 515-516, "La Guignolee (La Gaie-Annee)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-TreasuryMississippiRiverFolklore, p. 584, "La Guillannee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Berry-FolkSongsOfOldVincennes, p. 10, "La Guillannee" (1 text + translation, 1 tune)
McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, pp. 3-7, "La Gui-Annee" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SouthernMountainFolksong, p. 34, "(La Guignolee)" (1 text + translation)
RECORDINGS:
Bloomsdale Singers, "La Guignolee" (KSGM 11279-A, n.d., prob. 1950s)
Prairie Durocher [sic] Singers, "La Guignolee" (KSGM 11279-B, n.d., prob. 1950s)
NOTES [35 words]: Botkin offers extensive notes on the Guillannee custom. He quotes Carriere: "The name Guillannée is to be explained as an abbreviation of gui de l'année, gui de la nouvelle année, New Year's Mistletoe." - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: BMRF584

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