What is La Guiannée |Paw-Paw French| How Missourians Celebrate New Years 

Good evening master and mistress, And all who live with you. For the first day of the year, You owe us La Guignolée. If you have nothing to give, A chine of meat or so will do. A chine of meat is not a big thing, Only ninety feet long. Again, we don't ask for very much, Only the oldest daughter of the house. We will give her lots of good cheer, And we will surely warm her feet. Now, we greet you, And beg you to forgive us please. If we have acted a little crazy, We meant it in good fun. Another time we'll surely be careful To know when we must come back here again. Let us dance La Guenille, -- La Guenille, La Guenille! Happy New Year!!! May this year be your best yet!

Thank you for showing and reminding everyone that American culture is so much more than Hollywood, fast food and rampant consumption of goods. It’s a multifaceted concept with many regional and cultural components. ❤

Love seeing Ron in character, he is great! I love his costume and antics are spot on. As one re-enactor to both of you, wishing you, family, fans a Happy New Year! 🥰👍👍

And a LARGE time was had by all...especially Ron...happy new year!

The last song being sung, my momma sang to us when we were kids. My momma was a direct import from France. She came to the States when she was about 10 or so.

Ron looks a wee tipsy! LOL Love you both. Happy, healthy New Year to Justine and Ron.

Wouah!!! I know this song,i'm french and i used to sing it as a child,this is:"Alouette gentille alouette,alouette je te plumerai",this is well known here in France!

Love your celebration! Brings 2024 back to the ole days. Looks like fun was had by all. Thanks for sharing and be blessed this year, Justine and Ron! xoxo

I like the wig Ron's wearing it looks "Natural "

Happy New Year, everybody! Ron and Justine, I'm so glad you both had a wonderful time celebrating! Thank you so much for sharing this with us! It's so fascinating to watch, and videos like this help keep important traditions like this alive! 😃 I sympathize greatly for you and Ste. Genevieve regarding the status of Paw-Paw French as a language. There's a language that's been a part of my family's history for many, many generations that's also endangered, and that would be the Yiddish language. It's a mixture of Hebrew and German with elements from several different Slavic languages. To quote my dad, it's "a poor man's language." It was the only language that my great, great-grandparents (who were poor farmers in Ukraine) knew how to speak. My great-grandparents could speak, write, and understand Yiddish perfectly, as could my grandparents. Even after coming to the United States, Yiddish was primarily what my great-grandmother would speak. My dad and my uncle know and understand a good chunk of Yiddish, as do my brother and I. At its peak, prior to World War II, Yiddish was a language that more than 11 million people could speak. Today, less than 600,000 people know how to speak, write, and understand Yiddish. I don't think it's quite as endangered as Paw-Paw French is, but Yiddish is still a dying language as well. It's a tremendously scary and sad thought, that a language so important to your culture, as well as that of several other people, could possibly be forgotten and eventually lost at some not-so-distant point in time. I sincerely hope that Paw-Paw French perseveres, as does Yiddish. Again, thank you for sharing this, Ron and Justine. I'm glad, very glad, that I was able to see this. Cheers! 😊

What a treat! Thank you for sharing this very old New Year's Eve tradition. I found myself clapping along, especially to Alouette. I hope your sister towns' young people take on the task of preserving the Paw Paw French dialect.

This looks like a lot of fun!! Happy New Year! 🎉

I think Ron enjoyed some special Paw Paw juice…extra fermented. 😂😂🇺🇸🎆 Have a blessed New Year!!

St Gen is a national treasure. I live about 50 miles south and we get up there as much as we can. Such a cool little town.

Wow never knew about the French language and I like the custum of singing and visiting. Great video Justine. You guys are awesome. Happy 2024❤

Missourians celebrate New Year gloriously! In Ukraine and Russia we also have a tradition of going to people's homes and singing Christmas songs for money and food. Happy New Year to Ron, Justine, Kandye and everyone in St. Gen!

Ron, you are Rockin’ that wig!! Very dashing, indeed! I have to say that one of the things that I have absolutely loved about your channel is the sense of community that your small town has! Thank goodness that there are young folks, such as you and Justine, who are recording, and keeping these past traditions of alive! What a blessing! Here’s to a Blessed New Year!🥂🎊🎉🥳❤🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Looks like a fun time ❤🎉🎉🎉 Happy New Year 🎉🎉🎉

I am French and think it is fantastic to see old traditions in a foreign country, coming directly from French culture ❤

Very interesting and nice"real"people having good time. Thanx for sharing

Wishing you a year filled with joy, success, and countless new opportunities!❤

Some very talented musicians in Ste. Genevieve!

I'm French-Canadian residing in Canada and yes there are many words I could not get ! Except at the very end with the song Alouette.

That looks like so much fun. Happy new year to all

I like the costumes, specially the dresses. 👍

Happy new year!!! Thank you for sharing this, looks like so much fun.

Just imagine your sitting down for dinner and these folks walk in stomping and singing god knows what....YIKES!!!

"Alouette gentille Alouette je te plumerai 🎶🎼🎶🎼" J’adorerai cette chanson quand j’étais petite ❤ Je la chante encore aujourd'hui 😊 Nice video ❤ Happy New year for all of us 🎉

Makes me wanna move to Eastern Missouri & learn Paw Paw French ❤

What a wonderfully festive tradition!! Bet you all had sore throats today. Love hearing these local dialects, we have a similar English derived of on our Maryland Eastern Shore islands.

I am french, this song: " Alouette gentille alouette, alouette je te plumerai..." Is very famous for the kids

Nice costumes. You guys always seems to have a lot of fun.

I hope you all have a blessed New Year with happiness health and prosperity God bless you both

Happy New Year everyone! This was a treat to watch😃

Looks like fun! I had to comfort the pets while the peasants played with their wimpy little firecrackers until 1 AM. The only way yinz would get me on the dance floor would be if I fell down on the way to the men's room!

To Ron and Justine, have a happy Hogmanay! And may this new year be better than the one before. ( this is scots gaelic for happy new years ) the scottish, have a tradition of going from house to house on Hogmanay Eve and starting a Ceilidh, and it ends in someone's home. After the new year, Ceilidh the tallest with dark hair enters the house first. This is to ensure good luck for the following year. HAPPY HOGMANAY!!!

BLESSED NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do take care. Fl.

Thank you, Justine and Ron for sharing with us this New Year tradition , la Guiannée, in St. Genevieve. First time watching it.

That looks like so much fun!!

Loved this! Happy New Year ❤

The last song I was able to sing along with due to learning it in high school French class.

Looks like a great time!

Ron had too much of the punch! 😂😂😂

A nice surprise, Happy New Year 🥰

Love Ron's merriment!

What a fun celebration 🎉

Fantastic way to bring in the New Year..Loved this!!

Happy New! I was surprised you sang one of the two songs I know In french! 😊

Loved this 🎉 happy new year

You all looked like you had a great time bringing in the New Year! Loved both of your costumes. It looked like so much fun! Happy New Year 2024 to you both!! Sue 🎉🎉🎉🎉😊❤

That was cool. Looks like a good excuse to drink some beer! 🤠🍺

I love this. Thanks for sharing this with us ❤️

Top fun! Thank you for sharing such a special tradition!

Looks like y’all had a great time! Happy New Year everyone! Bonne Année!

It seems you all had a lot of fun! I liked the music, dancing and camaraderie. I hope this is a tradition that will not die - but will only grow. Happy New Year, Ron and Justine!

Happy new year with you. good health🎉🎉🎉❤

This is so great! I live in Toledo Ohio, i really wish we did old time traditional celebrations here. Looks like good fun!🎉 Happy New Year to everyone at early American!

Looks like a great time! Thank you for sharing.

Now that was fun! Happy New Year!

Hey from south Alabama! Here's hoping 2024 is better than 2023 was for all of us. Y'all put out some cool stuff in '23 that's helped me keep my sanity and I love y'all for it. Also, I'd never heard of "the state of misery" (as a guy I once knew from there called it) having a native French dialect. That's really cool! The only French stuff here is around Mobile, but I'm sure whatever dialect once existent has now died. There's a few French surnames down here, but that's it.

How fun!

That is a really neat way to celebrate. Thank you for sharing it

Great celebrations!

Happy New Year !!!

Loved the video thanks for sharing Happy New Year 🎉

Justine should do an episode on paw paw fruit maybe.

Happy new year, this video is so beautiful, your city is so beautiful it is a family

Happy 😁 New Year 🎊🎊

Happy New Year Ron and Justine!

j'adore !

Happy New Year 🎆

That was fun. Thank you.

Fantástica manera de recibir el año nuevo mis mejores deseos para este año 2⃣ 0⃣ 2⃣ 4⃣ 🎉

Happy new year everyone

Looks like everyone is having a good time.I would like to celebrate this way. This is a very interesting custom.

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽Bravo! We still celebrate in many parts of Canada La guignolée est un événement annuel ayant lieu au Québec, au Nouveau-Brunswick, en Nouvelle-Écosse et en Ontario dans les derniers jours de novembre ou premiers de décembre, ainsi qu'aux États-Unis où elle est connue dans deux localités (Prairie-du-Rocher (Illinois) et Sainte-Geneviève (Missouri)) sous le nom de La Guiannée . Elle prend la forme d'une collecte de nourriture non périssable et d'argent pour venir en aide aux plus démunis, en préparant des "paniers de Noël" remplis d'aliments non périssables.

🎉Happy NewYear🎉

So I'm curious as this is the first I'm hearing about this cool celebration, what gifts do u receive? Food, toys, goods? What do u get? I couldnt even find u celebration on a google search, so I really am curious.

This is very interesting! Was there a lot of French settlers in that area during the early history of the state?

Great wig Ron

happy new year

This is so fun!!!

Hope Ron had a good hangover cure ! 😂😂😂

Happy New Year!

Fun Video 😊

Looks like fun!

Bonne année, happy new year 🎉

Boa tarde feliz ano novo 🎉🎇🥂😊

Some are having a G8 time 😁🍺

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou !

Where is this party at?? I want to come!

That was interesting!

Ok my Curiosity has gotten the best of me. Hope I'm not being to nosy. So I get the cabin was built to do your videos. But is your house close? And do you have it decorated like your cabin? Its just you do such a great job you would almost believe that , that is really your home. Sorry was just curious.

Do you two speak Missouri French? Sad that it’s disappearing. I wonder how many languages have been lost to time

🎉

It almost looks like the camera man time traveled

That was fun to watch. But where was Justine? We missed her. 🎉

This is on the river. When you get away from the river, the rest of Missouri is English, German, and Scots. I would say a small population of Missouri celebrates New Years in French.

Chúc mừng năm mới 2024🐉

Maybe it's just my phone ... no sound =(