Happy New Year YBPs! Whether you are out kickin it or chillin at home with loved ones, I hope you have a safe time celebrating the end of yet another year. I also know that many of you are at church right now enjoying watch night service. It just occurred to me that not every person, or even every black person, is aware of watch night service or the history and significance of it. Here’s a brief summary:
“Watch Night Services in black communities can be traced back to gatherings on December 31, 1862, also known as ‘Freedom’s Eve.’ On that night, Blacks came together in churches and private homes all across the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had actually become law. Then, at the stroke of midnight, it was January 1, 1863, and all slaves in the Confederate States were declared legally free. When the news was received, there were prays, shouts, and songs of joy as people fell to their knees and thanked God.”
DNLee
I heard a different story. It dates to slave times, too. On some plantations, slaves were given time off from the day after Christmas until New Year's eve. Often families lived on neighboring plantations and given the right paper work (and disposition of the slave) they were allowed to travel to se their families. Since they had to return to their own plantations by New Year's Day morning, the community would stay up all night, celebrating, worshiping, and spending those last moments together. As men were preparing to depart early in the morning, they would make last minute visits to the ladies and give them luck for the new year. This is were the custom of having a man be the first to cross your threshold on New Year's day is said to come.
January 1, 2009 at 7:58 pm
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I hope i am not too late to wish everyone here a happy new year 2009.
January 3, 2009 at 6:37 pm
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I'am celebrate my new year night at Jogjakarta – Indonesia. One of my favorite place in Indonesia. Happy new year everybody
January 4, 2009 at 9:04 pm
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This great watch at night habit.. same with me thats is my habit.
January 9, 2009 at 4:47 am
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wish you luck this 2009
January 11, 2009 at 1:35 am
Orlando
Martin Luther King, Jr. said: Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.
March 10, 2009 at 6:02 pm