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This is generally used as a reference to Irish soldiers who fought in the service of various foreign kings and monarchs, including some who supported both Jacobite risings. The legend is that when they died abroad, their souls were transformed into geese so that they could fly back to Ireland.
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The 5-couple dance “A Flock of Geese” is based on this dance.
The Wild Geese
The battle of the Boyne on 1 July, 1690, and the raising of the siege of Limerick that followed,
ended the grand design of the Irish Jacobites to depose Protestant William II (III)
and to restore Roman Catholic James VII (II) to the throne.
Patrick Sarsfield, titular Earl of Lucan, the hero of the Limerick campaign,
followed James back to France and a second, and final, exile.
He did not, however, go alone.
Sarsfield had arranged terms at the end of the Irish Jacobite rising
whereby 18,000 Irish soldiers would be allowed to accompany him to France.
There these troops entered the service of Louis XIV
and became the French Royal Irish Regiment – “The Wild Geese” –
and as such fought for France against Britain.
From “Scotland Dances”, by Eugenia (Jeannie) Callander Sharp
(Used by permission.)