You're welcome and thank you, I hope you are having a Happy New Year's Eve and be safe if you go out tonight. I am sitting home celebrating on Hive. Maybe I can stay awake long enough to see the ball drop.
!LOL
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I almost always stay home ... I stayed home, closed my Hive books for the year, and gave praise to the Lord at the stroke of midnight. My ancestral tradition is watch night service, but there is no church near me so I do it myself.
By December 31, 1862, many enslaved Africans had heard that Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation would take effect on January 1, 1863 ... but they also knew a war was raging, and that if it was up to mankind, they would never be free or even see 1863, because it was known: there were those who would rather see them dead than free. So, they decided to stay up that night and "pray the New Year in" ... hence, watch night service. Of course, 1863 did come ... and they began the New Year praising the Lord together that they had made it, although for most, freedom would have to wait a few more years ... but they KNEW the Lord was going to do it for them, because they had seen the first day of 1863.
Today, every year many African Americans still go to church on the night of Dec. 31 to thank God for all He has done, ask Him for what we still need in the New Year, and start the New Year praising Him. There is no church having service near enough to me for me to venture out at night now, but, this is how I typically spend New Year's Eve to New Year's day.
That is interesting, I did not know this, but my Mom and Miss Lilly used to go to church on New Year's Eve, I wonder if this is why they went.
It may be .. the practice expanded across denominations and the color line with time ...
Miss Lilly was a colored lady and they went to her church. Miss Lilly knew how to dress for church. I am sure you have seen a woman dressed like Miss Lilly on Church days, all wearing a hat that matched their dress. It is something that I have seen slowly fade away, the younger women do not dress like the older women dressed. They dress nice but no longer have that "the style" the older ladies had.
The older ladies at my church are still Ms. Lilly.
The style had a reason ... post-integration, my people do not feel as much like every time we appear in public, we have to look four times as good than anyone else to even get human respect, AND, we are further from our African roots of ceremonial dress for ceremonial occasions. The latter is the actual root of the style.
Whatever the reason for them doing this, I admire them.
Miss Lilly was my mother's best friend for 50 years. Mom took it hard when she passed, she told me that in the 50 years, they never had cross words between them.
Real friends are so hard to find ... so glad both your mother and Ms. Lilly had that, against the odds of their time. God is GOOD, all the time!