Wayzgoose
A wayzgoose was at one time an entertainment given by a master printer to his workmen each year on or about St Bartholomew's Day (24 August). It marked the traditional end of summer and the start of the season of working by candlelight. Later, the word came to refer to an annual outing and dinner for the staff of a printing works or the printers on a newspaper.
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[edit] Possible derivations
The derivation of the term is doubtful. It may be a misspelling for "wasegoose", from wase, Middle English for "sheaf", thus meaning "sheaf" or "harvest goose", a bird eaten at harvest-time, cf. the "stubble-goose" mentioned by Chaucer in The Cook's Prologue.
Another plausible origin is a more general word for a merry-making or feast, reputedly referring to the grand goose-feast annually held at Waes, in Brabant, at Martinmas. However that is pronounced quite differently, as "Waas". It apparently means "cloud-veil" in Dutch: also there are no places called Waes or Waas in Brabant, but there are several places with "Waes" in their name in East Flanders.
Relations between England and the Low Countries were often very close, and it is plausible that such entertainments might have grown to be called colloquially a "Waes-Goose". It is not clear why the term should have survived later in the printing trade. Certainly the goose has long ago parted company with the printers' wayzgoose, which was usually held in July,[1] though it had no fixed season. A keepsake was often printed to commemorate the occasion. It could be printed ahead of time, or the printing could form part of the evening's activities.
Some bookbinders believe that Wayzgoose was held on St Bartholomew's Day because he was the patron saint of leather workers. It was no coincidence[citation needed] that on August 24, 1456 the printing of the Gutenberg Bible was completed, perhaps triggering the very first wayzgoose party at Fust–Schöffer shop in Mainz.
The holiday, a break in printing, was traditionally also the day that papermakers took a break from making paper for the printers, and used up the last of the pulp to make paper for windows, waxed paper being the traditional window material for the yeoman class before the use of glass became more widespread, and after this was done, the pulp vats would be cleaned out for the new fibre, made from rags collected in the spring, and retted (prepared by rotting) over the summer.
The paper windows were fitted on St. Martin's Day (November 11). Just as the saint had supposedly cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, so yeoman farmers would give offcuts of the windows to the poor, to help them keep warm during the coming winter.
Parchment was the original mediaeval material for keeping northern homes warm, for those who could not afford glass for the windows. The patron saint of parchment makers was the same St Bartholomew. With paper replacing parchment, the name of the traditional Martinmas party, the Wayzgoose, might have been transferred to both papermakers' and printers' parties.
[edit] Contemporary uses
For almost 20 years the Letterpress Guild of New England has met in late September for their annual Wayzgoose.
In 1928 poet Roy Campbell wrote a satirical poem entitled The Wayzgoose.
Wharfedale Wayzgoose is also the name of a Border Morris side from Otley, West Yorkshire, a town renowned for the development of the Wharfedale printing press.
The University of California, Irvine's student government (ASUCI) hosts a medieval fair called Wayzgoose every April in conjunction with an open house event known as Celebrate UCI.
Minnesota Center for Book Arts, a contemporary art center preserving traditional printing and bookmaking crafts, celebrates an annual Wayzgoose in appreciation of its donors and members.
Tacoma, Washington holds an annual Wayzgoose event dubbed a "printer's celebration". This event, which includes a large-scale relief printing project using a steamroller, is designed to get the community interested and involved in the art of printmaking.[2] The School of Visual Concepts in Seattle, Washington also celebrates an annual Wayzgoose festival which includes a "Steamroller Smackdown" competition.[3]
In 1977 a children's sketch comedy TV show entitled Wayzgoose was produced and screened for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series ran for about ten 30 minute episodes.
Coach House Books, an independent Canadian press, began hosting an annual Wayzgoose party in 2009, in celebration of buying the building which they had rented since 1965.
The Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum holds an annual Wayzgoose every November. The event typically includes presentations and hands-on workshops by some of the top letter press printers and historians in the world. [4]
[edit] References
- ^ The History of Printing. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1855. pp. 169–170. http://books.google.com/books?id=qZEDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA169.
- ^ Ponnekanti, Rosemary (2008-02-24). "Let’s see how these print artists roll". The News Tribune. http://www.thenewstribune.com/2008/02/24/291534/lets-see-how-these-print-artists.html. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ Seattle Times staff (2011-08-24). "School of Visual Concepts sets 10th annual 'wayzgoose' party". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2015950659_letterpress25.html. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ http://woodtype.org/events/item/2
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
[edit] External links
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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Wayzgoose. |
