Ste. Genevieve 'La Guignolee' singing troupe, musician Dennis Stroughmatt to ring in 2020

A centuries-old tradition will be brought back to life on New Year’s Eve in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. “La Guignolee” will feature European-style music, like Christmas caroling, but for New Year’s.

Robbie Pratt, museum operations director at The Centre for French Colonial Life at 198 Market St. in Ste. Genevieve, said the troupe, dressed in archaic costumes, travels through town, stopping at various locations to sing a beggar’s song for favors and for patrons’ enjoyment.

The troupe will make stops at restaurants and other venues, Pratt said, and they’ll likely arrive at the museum around 8 p.m. Tuesday night.

It’s an event rich in history and tradition, and it’s culturally important to all of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, this year’s special guest, musician Dennis Stroughmatt, said.

Stroughmatt started his musical journey in Cape Girardeau, while studying at Southeast Missouri State University 30 years ago, he said. He learned about traditional Creole music from then-professor Frank Nickell, who, Stroughmatt said, directed him north to traditional musicians steeped in the language, culture and music of Creole settlers.

While Louisiana is strongly associated with the Creole culture, Stroughmatt said, it was important in this region as well, and La Guignolee is an event that was held beginning in the late 1700s as a charitable endeavor.

“It was really for charity,” Stroughmatt said. “In small communities, including Cape Girardeau, everyone had to work together. Everyone needs each other in these places.”

Stroughmatt said the tradition hearkens back to Celtic practices and those in Normandy and Brittany, but it’s just one element in the rich tapestry that was the region in the early settlement years especially.

“What a lot of people don’t really realize about Missouri history unless they’re a big history buff is, on top of the French ancestry in Missouri, there’s Creole culture, too,” Pratt said. “Especially in Ste. Genevieve, you had French, Spanish, Native American, African American cultures all blending together,” Pratt said.

While this event encompasses the rich tradition and history, Stroughmatt said, “When you get there, you just have fun.”

Stroughmatt said he didn’t see himself as a preservationist, early on, until he realized the musicians he could learn from were starting to pass away. That instilled a sense of urgency in him, and “since then, I’ve just fallen into the place of someone trying to keep it alive.”

Pratt said Stroughmatt has played at other events in and around Ste. Genevieve before, and he was a natural choice for this year’s celebration.

Stroughmatt will hold a free concert and singalong beginning at The Centre for French Colonial Life around 6:30 p.m., and when the troupe arrives around 8 p.m., they’ll all perform together, Pratt said.

The music will consist of “the old songs,” Stroughmatt said, traditional to Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. Some of this music has been performed in the region for nearly 300 years, Stroughmatt said.

Pratt said this event will be co-sponsored by the Missouri Humanities Council and the Ste. Genevieve Chamber of Commerce, keeping the event free even with Stroughmatt’s performance.

“Stroughmatt enhances the event with dialogue that explains the French and Creole connection to Missouri,” Pratt said.

For the better part of a decade, the museum has hosted a watch party, with food, drinks and games, Pratt said.

“It’s a really neat tradition to see in person,” Pratt said. “And it’s always free.”

For more information, visit www.visitstegen.com and www.creolefiddle.com/home.html.