South Street Seaport Museum to Present Wayzgoose Holiday Kick Off

Kick off the holiday season at South Street Seaport Museum on November 20 between 6pm and 9pm with an evening of creativity, community, light refreshments, and cheer at the Seaport Museum's annual Wayzgoose-a 500-year-old printers' tradition marking the change of seasons. This year's celebration expands across even more of the Museum's spaces to include the Bowne & Co. Printing Office and the Stationers shop, plus the Museum's newly restored 1868 landmark, A.A. Thomson & Co. Tickets are free and can be reserved here.

All evening long, participants are invited to step into the Printing Office at 207 Water Street to roll up their sleeves and make their own impressions. Using historical printing presses and movable type from the Seaport Museum's working collection, they will pull their own festive, holiday-themed keepsakes. Next door, at the gift emporium at 211 Water Street, get a head start on holiday shopping and check out a particularly noteworthy and highly anticipated new arrival alongside this season's delightful selection of holiday gifts, cards, and more paper goods.

From 6pm to 8pm check out the stunning three-floor exhibition Maritime City at 213 Water Street. For a special holiday treat, join members of the curatorial working group for guided tours of the exhibition from 6pm to 7pm. Of the more than 540 artifacts on display, a guide will focus on elements of the exhibition that highlight Lower Manhattan's rich connection to printing history and showcase treasures from the printing history and graphic design collections-including clipper cards, trade cards, collage and paper sculptures from the Robert Warner Works on Paper Collection, and a vibrant array of tools, type, ephemera, and graphic art.

Participants are welcome to drop in anytime between 6pm and 9pm, but they won't want to miss two big announcements and remarks at 7:15pm inside the first-floor galleries at 213 Water Street-exciting news hot off the press!

Sign up today to lock in space for this charming evening-a night for printers, friends, and fellow enthusiasts to share the fruits of their labor, raise a glass, and celebrate the craft, community, and creativity that keep letterpress printing's rich history alive. Preregistration is encouraged. Walkups will be accommodated as space allows. Anyone ages 12 and up is welcome.

A Brief History of Wayzgoose

Legend has it that when Johannes Gutenberg and his team completed the first edition of the Bible, he invited them to his countryside residence for a celebratory dinner where he served a roast goose-they went away to eat a goose, giving rise to the term Wayzgoose.

Wayzgoose is a traditional printer's party that coincides with Bartholomewtide, the feast of St. Bartholomew, celebrated on August 24. St. Bartholomew is the patron saint of both bookbinders and butchers. In Northern Europe, the season began to change around this time, and papermakers would take a break from their work to produce waxed paper, used to cover windows in homes and workshops that couldn't afford glass. While this wax paper provided insulation, it also blocked sunlight, marking the shift to working by candlelight. Wayzgoose celebrations recognized this seasonal transition.