Mandotim... it was a British tradition first, predating the America we know by some hundreds of years..

People would go around neighbouring farms/villages in disguise (or guise, from which we get 'geezer'), singing and playing music, dancing or acting a folk play (like the Christmas Mummers plays) in exchange for beer. If the householder didn't let them in, they ran the risk of having water barrels upended, chicken coops opened or other pranks. It was a good way of blowing off steam and getting your own back on people who had ticked you off during the previous year.


LTS