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 hooftman (headman) was an honorary president, a non-participating patron, who audited the chamber's accounts and mediated disputes between members.

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.