Stuff You Should Know - Short Stuff: Watch Night

Episode Date: January 1, 2025

Watch Night has been observed on New Year’s Eve by African-American Methodists in the US since 1862, to mark the passage of the Emancipation Act. But this religious holiday goes back even farther in history, with even more layers of meaning.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, and welcome to The Short Stuff, and happy new year to you. This is Short Stuff with the Happy New Year edition. That's right. I believe this is coming out on New Year's Day, so I guess, I mean, that's still happy new year. Yeah. Happy 2025 to you, Chuck. Yeah, and to you, and to Jerry.

Yeah. So it's appropriate that we are talking about watch night tonight because it is a longstanding tradition in the African American community, specifically the African American Methodist community, that every New Year's Eve, they typically hold a service starting maybe around 7 p.m., maybe 10 p.m., Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays, Thursdays,

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At the stroke of midnight, bringing in that new year was a very special time, obviously, in America. And it was called Freedam Eve for that reason as well. But also Watch Night because you're, you know, you're watching that clock ticking towards freedom. When they gathered on that first Watch Night, there were a lot of churches who got together, obviously still legally enslaved people, and they waited. It's a pretty amazing tradition. You know, beyond that, it celebrates community, it celebrates faith, obviously, and perseverance. There's a description

from the African American Museum that says, "'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 will reply, it is three minutes to midnight. It is one minute before the new year. It is now midnight. Freedom has come. Yeah.

Pretty neat tradition, huh? It's amazing. I say we take an early ad break and come back and talk a little more about this tradition. All right. Let's do it. ["Skyfall", by The Bachelorette, by Kevin MacLeod, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by Kevin MacLeod, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The Bachelorette, by The very much associated with, again, the African American and specifically Methodist community. One of the other traditions is that on New Year's Day, they'll have an amazing meal, usually of southern cuisine like Hoppin' John, potato salad, which is more German than southern,

cornbread, that's a big one. And it just sounds as delicious as it can be. And a lot of people say like, okay, yes, watch night, the first one ever was December 31st, 1862. But what a lot of people don't understand is that watch night was already a tradition in the Methodist denomination. So the enslaved Africans who got together for this first watch night were actually doing two things. They were observing that traditional

Methodist watch night service, but this one was extra special because of the Emancipation Proclamation coming into effect the next day. Yeah, and it kind of took on a double meaning at that point. Interestingly, it goes back to the Moravians, who I know we've talked about more than once on this show over the years. That doesn't sound right. The Moravians, in, it would be the Czech Republic now, way back in 1733, John Wesley was the founder of the Methodists, got it from the Moravians, brought the watch-night vigil along to his denomination in about 1740, but these they would hold once a month on full moons.

They would have a service, I believe the first one was in the United States at least, was in 1770 in Philadelphia at Old St. George's Church. And they continue to this day as covenant renewal services. So, you know, it's a bit different obviously than the meaning it would have later on with the Emancipation Proclamation. But the double meaning is still held true and dear. Yeah, and the original Watch Night, and still today, one of the big threads to it or the point to it is to get Methodists to reflect on just

how well they're living their life. I think the Snopes put it in a way that if you basically die tomorrow, where are you going to go, essentially? And that I guess is a pretty good thing to reflect on every four weeks. Because a lot of stuff can happen in four weeks, you know? I was doing good last month, this month not so much. Right. But yeah, that 1862 watch night just changed everything so much that people don't even associate it with that original version, that covenant renewal service any longer. They just associate it with it, the freedom from slavery. And of course, the Emancipation

Proclamation didn't just like immediately free slaves. It did on paper. Legally, as far as the US federal government was concerned, all enslaved people were free as of January 1st, 1863. But the United States, the Union was at war with the Confederacy, and the Confederacy wasn't exactly observing new federal laws, especially ones that freed the enslaved people in the South. Yeah, they weren't like, okay, we'll comply, sounds good. No, it just did not go like that. But just the gravity of what had just happened, this executive order proclaimed by Lincoln, which apparently first came in September 22nd, 1862.

He basically said, hey everybody, get ready for it, because on January 1st of next year, all enslaved people are going to be free. He said that all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people were of shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then thenceforward and forever free." And there's probably no sweeter words for enslaved people

to hear coming out of Abraham Lincoln's mouth at the time. Yeah. And then Lincoln kind of grinned and said, man, just wait until you see the statue, they're going to build up me. Yeah. It's going to be boss. Like people are going to love me. This is going to be so great. Yeah. And for great reason. These days, the services can vary kind of depending on the congregation. Sometimes, like you said, they'll start a little earlier in the evening and maybe end at like 10

o'clock. So, you can still go out and, you know, celebrate New Year's however you want. Sometimes that is New Year's for you, and you take it all the way to midnight. Depending on the church, they might really emphasize the Emancipation Proclamation aspect of it. Sometimes they might do that at all. It kind of just depends on where you're going, because it is a night that very much has two distinct meanings. Jared Sussman Yeah. For those congregants whose services end at 10, they're very well known to hop in a cab and put on their big oversized Nivea hat and say, get me to Times Square stat. That's one tradition I've never had any interest in doing.

Me either. That sounds so terrible. I mean, of course the legend associated with it, which apparently is quite true, is like, if you have to pee, T.S. for you, because you have to stay in the same spot that you arrived in, and if you leave, you cannot come back in. So if you want to stay there until midnight, buddy, you better be able to hold your pee for like six hours.

You know people are peeing in things right there next to you. Yeah, you know, if you look over at somebody zoned out and they have like a look of relief across their face, they're peeing themselves right then. Yeah, why is that guy drinking yellow Gatorade? Brody. Yeah. Short stuff is apt.

Happy New Year, everybody. Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, myHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.