Short Stuff: Watch Night | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff and I. happy New Year to you this is short. stuff with the happy New Year Edition. that's right I believe uh 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 long standing tradition.

in the African-American Community. specifically uh the African-American. Methodist community MH um that every New. Year's Eve uh they typically hold a. service starting maybe around 7 p.m. maybe 10 p.m. and that it it uh. traditionally ends just after midnight. after the new year and the reason that. it's so uh deeply rooted in the in the. African-American community in the United. States is because there was the the. what's considered the first watch night.

in this tradition uh came on December. 31st. 1862 the next day Abraham Lincoln's. executive order known as the. Emancipation Proclamation would come. into effect that's right at the stroke. of midnight bringing in that new year. was a very special time obviously in. America uh and it was called Freedom Eve. for that reason as well uh but also. watch night because you're you're you. know you're watch watching that clock.

ticking towards Freedom uh when they. gathered on that first watch night there. were uh a lot of churches who got. together um obviously still legally. enslaved people uh and and they waited. um it's it's a pretty amazing tradition. um it you know beyond that it celebrates. uh Community it celebrates Faith. obviously and perseverance um there's a. description from the African-American. Museum uh 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 1 minute before the new. year it is now midnight Freedom has come. yeah pretty neat tradition huh it's. amazing um 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. [Music].

[Applause]. [Music]. uh so Chuck um this is very much. associated with again the. African-American and specifically. Methodist community um one of the other. Traditions is that on New Year's Day. they'll have an amazing meal usually of. Southern Cuisine like hop and John. course um potato salad which is more.

German than Southern cornbread that's a. big one um and it just sounds as. delicious as can be um 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 um watch Night Service but.

this one was extra special because of. the Emancipation Proclamation coming. into effect the next day yeah uh and it. kind of took on a double meaning at that. point um 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 uh it would be the Czech. Republic now way back in 1733 uh John. Wesley was the founder of the methodists. um got it from the.

moravians uh brought the watch night. vigil along uh to his denomination in. about. 1740 um but these they would hold once a. month on full moons uh they would have a. service I believe the first one was in. uh in the United States at least was in. 1770 in Philadelphia at Old St George's. Church MH and they continue to this day. um as uh Covenant renewal services so. you know it's it's a it's a bit. different obviously than the meaning it.

would have later on with the. Emancipation Proclamation but the the. double meaning is still held true and. dear yeah and the original watch night. uh and still today um one of the the big. threads to it or the point to it is to. get um methodists to reflect on just how. well they're living their life um I. think the Snopes put it in a way that um. if you basically die tomorrow yeah where. you going to go essentially uh and that. I guess is a pretty good thing to. reflect on every every four weeks sure.

because a lot of a lot of stuff can. happen in four weeks you. know I was doing good last month this. month not so much right um but yeah that. that 1862 watch night just changed. everything so much that people don't. even associate it with that original. version that um Covenant uh 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 paper legally as far as the US.

federal government was concerned all all. enslaved people were free uh 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 the gravity of what.

had just happened this executive order. um 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 whereof shall. then be in Rebellion against the United. States shall be then then forward and. forever free and there was 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. till you see the statue they're going to. build up me yeah it's GNA be boss like. people are going to love me this is. going to be so great yeah and for great. reason uh these days the uh Services can. vary kind of depending on the. congregation uh sometimes like you said. they'll start a little earlier in the. evening and maybe end at like 10:00 so. you can still go out and you know.

celebrate New Year however you want uh. sometimes that is New Year's for you and. you take it all the way to midnight uh. depending on the church they might um. really emphasize the uh Emancipation. Proclamation aspect of it sometimes they. might do that at all it kind of just. depends on where you're going because it. does it is a night that very much has. two distinct meetings yeah for those. congregants whose um 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 Time Square. stat that's one tradition I've never had. any interest in doing me either um that. sounds so terrible I mean of course the. The Legend associated with it which. apparently is quite true is like if you. have to pee Ts 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 6 hours. you know people are peeing in things.

right there next to you yeah you know if. you look over somebody zoned out and. they have like a a look of relief across. their face they're peeing thems right. then yeah why is that guy drinking. yellow Gatorade broy yeah short stuff is. out happy New Year. everybody stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts iHeart Radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcast or wherever you.

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