On New Year's Eve, many multiracial and Black churches celebrate Watch Night, a holiday commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation. This tradition dates back to the Civil War and marks the legal freedom of enslaved people in Confederate states.
On New Year's Eve, when most of us will be out celebrating the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 with parties, champagne and the ball drop, the night will also be significant to another historical reason.
Those gathering on the first Watch Night included many African Americans who were still legally enslaved as they assembled, sometimes in secrecy."It is a day for poetry and song, a new song. These cloudless skies, this balmy air, this brilliant sunshine . . . are in harmony with the glorious morning of liberty about to dawn up on us."
“Many congregants across the nation bow in prayer minutes before the midnight hour as they sing out 'Watchman, watchman, please tell me the hour of the night,""In return the minister replies, 'It is three minutes to midnight'; ‘it is one minute before the new year'; and 'it is now midnight, freedom has come.’”
Emancipation Proclamation Civil War Watch Night Black Churches New Year's Eve
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