De Olijftak (The Olive Branch), or in full Gulde van den Heyligen Geest die men noempt den Olijftak (Confraternity of the Holy Spirit called the Olive Branch), was a chamber of rhetoric that dates back to the early 16th century in Antwerp, when it was a social drama society drawing its membership primarily from merchants and tradesmen.
The chamber also provided public entertainment at such events as the triumphal entry into Antwerp of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.
The guild employed a facteur to carry messages, collect or deliver prizes, and convey congratulations, and a knaap to do odd jobs, notify members of funerals or of extraordinary meetings, tidy the hall, and act as doorman during performances.
[1] By the 17th-century, the chamber enjoyed the services of semi-professional actors (personagiën) who did not pay membership fees, were provided with free food and drink at rehearsals and performances, received 6 florins for attending the funerals of guild members, and were exempt from militia duty.
The fee-paying members, or confreers, enjoyed not only freedom from militia duty but the full range of social provision that the guild provided.