Watch Night

To read an original poem entitled Watch Night, click here.

WATCH NIGHT

If you live or grew up in a Black community in the United States, you have probably heard of "Watch Night Services,"the gathering of the faithful in church on New Year's Eve. The service usually begins anywhere from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.and ends at midnight with the entrance of the New Year. Some folks come to church first, before going to out to celebrate. Forothers,church is the only New Year's Eve event.

Like many others, I always assumed that Watch Night was a fairly standard Christianreligious service -- made a bit more Afrocentric because that's whathappens when elements of Christianity become linked with the Black Church. And yes, there is a history of Watch Night in the Methodist tradition. Still, it seemed that most predominately White Christian churches did notinclude Watch Night services on their calendars, but focused instead on ChristmasEve programs. In fact, there were instances where clergy in Mainline denominationswondered aloud about the propriety of linking religious services with a secularholiday like New Year's Eve.

However, in doing some research, I discovered there are two essential reasons for the importance of New Year's Eve services in African Americancongregations. Many of the Watch Night Services in Black communities that wecelebrate today can be traced back to gatherings on December 31, 1862, also known as"Freedom's Eve." On that night, Americans of African descent came together in churches,gathering places and private homes throughout the nation, anxiously awaiting news thatthe Emancipation Proclamation had become law. Then, at the strokeof midnight, it was January 1, 1863, and according to Lincoln's promise, all slaves in the Confederate States werelegallyfree. People remained in churches and other gathering places, eagerly awaiting word that Emancipation had been declared. When the actual news of freedom was received later that day, there were prayers, shouts and songs of joy aspeople fell to their knees and thanked God.

But even before 1862 and the possibility of a Presidential Emancipation, African people had gathered on New Year's Eve on plantations across the South. That is because many owners of enslaved Africans tallied up their business accounts on the first day of each new year. Human property was sold along with land and furnishings to satisfy debts. Families and friends were separated. Often they never saw each other again in this earthly world. Thus coming together on December 31 might be the last time for enslaved and free Africans to be together with loved ones.

So, Black folks in North America have gathered annually on New Year's Eve since the earliest days, praising God for bringing ussafely through another year and praying for the future. Certainly, those traditional gatherings were made even more poignant by the events of 1863 which brought freedom to the slaves and the Year of Jubilee. Many generations have passed since and most of us were never taught the African American history of Watch Night. Yet our traditions and our faith still bring us together at the end of every year to celebrateonce again "how we got over."

Please contact Charles Sutton at CharynSutton.org if you are interested in a presentation on the history of Watch Night at your school or conference. This essay can be reproduced and used with proper attribution to and permission from the family of Charyn D. Sutton.

Illustration Citation:Heard and Moseley.
Waiting for the hour [Emancipation]
December 31, 1862.
Carte de visite. Washington, 1863.
Printsand Photographs Division

African AmericanOdyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship
The Civil War: Part 2
Library of Congress

Essay on Watch Night by Charyn D. Sutton,The Onyx Group
Originally WrittenDecember 2000, Revised August 2004

Additional information on the history of Watch Night can be found in EmancipationProclamation by noted African American historian John Hope Franklin and ForeverFree by Dorothy Sterling (out of print).

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The Onyx Group
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