WISCONSIN: New Year's Traditions Of Long Ago.

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I found this article so interesting.. . .


Wisconsin New Year's Traditions of Long Ago

Wisconsin has celebrated New Year's ever since Europeans and Yankees first settled here. French-Canadian residents brought a custom called "La Guignolée," a sort of New Year's trick-or-treat in which old men collected clothing and food for the poor. According to Elizabeth Therese Baird (1810-1890), daughter of a fur trader and a French-Ottawa mother who came to Green Bay as a teenage bride in 1824:

FULL ARTICLE HERE:

Wisconsin New Year's Traditions of Long Ago, Highlights at the Wisconsin Historical Society

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"One custom prevailed universally, among all classes, even extending to the Indians: that of devoting the holidays to festivity and amusement, but especially that of 'calling' on New Year's Day. This custom was confined to no class in particular; all observed it; and many met on New Year who perhaps did not again meet till the next. All then shook hands and exchanged mutual good wishes — all old animosities were forgotten — all differences settled and universal peace established."

How wonderful if we could all live just live like this now a days.