Have you heard of Sylvester’s Abend? Have you heard of New Year’s Eve? Two names for the same event. To arrive at the Gregorian calendar that we and most European countries use was not an easy process. Many changes took place before the final calendar set up by Pope Gregory XIII was adopted.

Sylvester’s Abend was what the German emigrants called New Year’s Eve, or Dec. 31st.The name “Sylvester” translates from Latin as “wild man”. The German “Abend” translates to “evening”. Sylvester’s Abend is named after a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 314 A.D. to 335 A.D. Ever since the Gregorian calendar was adopted by most of the world, the feast day celebrated Sylvester’s death on Dec. 31st. The name Sylvester’s Abend was used locally for many years but eventually changed to New Year’s Eve. The local German American Society still uses Sylvester’s Abend.

Speaking of Sylvester’s Abend traditions, some of the interpreters at the Sophienburg who grew up in Germany remember a practice carried out on New Year’s Eve called Bleigiessen or “lead pouring”. It resembles the practice of reading tea leaves to predict the next year’s events. A small amount of lead is melted in a spoon over a candle. Then the molten lead is poured into a bowl of water and the pattern that forms predicts events of the coming year. There is a long list of what these forms could mean. Sounds like an entertaining game.

Advertisements in the old Zeitung newspapers give a hint of how New Year’s Eve was celebrated locally. Dances at halls in town and in nearby settlements were prevalent. A popular early hall was Matzdorf Halle which eventually became Echo Hall and then finally, Eagles Hall. There were dances at Sweet Home Hall at Solms, Walhalla at Smithson’s Valley, Teutonia Halle, Anhalt, Landa Park, Reinarz Hall, Schwab Hall, Lenzen Hall, and smaller ones. Downtown Seekatz Opera House, built in 1901, was a popular dance hall with its stage, dressing rooms, kitchen, and large main floor with seats that could be removed easily for dances. An added feature was a balcony for onlookers and private club rooms on the second floor in the front of the building. At midnight the fire siren would blow.

All of the dances furnished trappings of the celebration of the coming of the New Year with noisemakers and fireworks. Designed to ward off evil, fireworks and noisemakers go back to ancient times.

In a Sophienburg Reflections program, the late Kola Zipp recalls a custom in her younger years (early 1920s) that had to do with New Year’s Eve. She called the practice “New Year’s Callers”. Young men would hire a carriage from the local livery stable and go out on New Year’s afternoon to visit girls. Girls would stay at home to welcome them and offer the boys wine. (That’s a switch) These New Year’s Callers would visit and then move on to the next house.

Marie Offermann and her sister Jeanette Felger often went to dances at Echo Hall as children with their parents. There was even baby-sitting service in one of the back rooms. People brought food that was placed in the basement under the stage. New Years was a dress-up time. Look at the picture.

New Year’s Eve is celebrated around the world, often with strange customs, from throwing dishes, to wearing red underwear, to congregating in a cemetery to ring in the New Year with departed loved ones. In France the wind direction predicted the year’s crops and weather and in Spain if one could consume 12 grapes in 12 seconds from midnight, good luck would follow.

Since the invention of television and computers, millions watch the New Year’s celebration at Times Square in New York. Since its beginning in 1907, a huge 12 foot diameter ball suspended above Times Square is lowered. When it reaches the bottom of the tower, it is midnight.

No New Year’s Eve celebration would be complete without the ever popular traditional song, “Auld Lang Syne”. Poet Robert Burns is given credit for translating the Scottish song. Here’s the last verse of Burns’ rendition:

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!(friend)
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!(give us your hand)
And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught,(take a good-will draught)
For auld lang syne,(long, long ago)

Chorus:

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

The post We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet for auld lang syne appeared first on Sophies Shop.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff —

Have you heard of Sylvester’s Abend? Have you heard of New Year’s Eve? Two names for the same event. To arrive at the Gregorian calendar that we and most European countries use was not an easy process. Many changes took place before the final calendar set up by Pope Gregory XIII was adopted.

Sylvester’s Abend was what the German emigrants called New Year’s Eve, or Dec. 31. The name “Sylvester” translates from Latin as “wild man.” The German “Abend” translates to “evening.” Sylvester’s Abend is named after a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 314 A.D. to 335 A.D. Ever since the Gregorian calendar was adopted by most of the world, the feast day celebrated Sylvester’s death on Dec. 31. The name Sylvester’s Abend was used locally for many years but eventually changed to New Year’s Eve. The local German American Society still uses Sylvester’s Abend.

Speaking of Sylvester’s Abend traditions, some of the interpreters at the Sophienburg who grew up in Germany remember a practice carried out on New Year’s Eve called Bleigiessen or “lead pouring.” It resembles the practice of reading tea leaves to predict the next year’s events. A small amount of lead is melted in a spoon over a candle. Then the molten lead is poured into a bowl of water and the pattern that forms predicts events of the coming year. There is a long list of what these forms could mean. Sounds like an entertaining game.

Advertisements in the old Neu Braunfelser Zeitung newspapers give a hint of how New Year’s Eve was celebrated locally. Dances at halls in town and in nearby settlements were prevalent. A popular early hall was Matzdorf Halle which eventually became Echo Hall and then finally, Eagles Hall. There were dances at Sweet Home Hall at Solms, Walhalla at Smithson’s Valley, Teutonia Halle, Anhalt, Landa Park, Reinarz Hall, Schwab Hall, Lenzen Hall, and smaller ones. Downtown Seekatz Opera House, built in 1901, was a popular dance hall with its stage, dressing rooms, kitchen, and large main floor with seats that could be removed easily for dances. An added feature was a balcony for onlookers and private club rooms on the second floor in the front of the building. At midnight the fire siren would blow.

All of the dances furnished trappings of the celebration of the coming of the New Year with noisemakers and fireworks. Designed to ward off evil, fireworks and noisemakers go back to ancient times.

In a Sophienburg Reflections program, the late Kola Zipp recalls a custom in her younger years (early 1920s) that had to do with New Year’s Eve. She called the practice “New Year’s Callers.” Young men would hire a carriage from the local livery stable and go out on New Year’s afternoon to visit girls. Girls would stay at home to welcome them and offer the boys wine. (That’s a switch.) These New Year’s Callers would visit and then move on to the next house.

Marie Offermann and her sister Jeanette Felger often went to dances at Echo Hall as children with their parents. There was even baby-sitting service in one of the back rooms. People brought food that was placed in the basement under the stage. New Years was a dress-up time. Look at the picture.

New Year’s Eve is celebrated around the world, often with strange customs, from throwing dishes, to wearing red underwear, to congregating in a cemetery to ring in the New Year with departed loved ones. In France the wind direction predicted the year’s crops and weather and in Spain if one could consume 12 grapes in 12 seconds from midnight, good luck would follow.

Since the invention of television and computers, millions watch the New Year’s celebration at Times Square in New York. Since its beginning in 1907, a huge 12-foot diameter ball suspended above Times Square is lowered. When it reaches the bottom of the tower, it is midnight.

No New Year’s Eve celebration would be complete without the ever-popular traditional song, “Auld Lang Syne.” Poet Robert Burns is given credit for translating the Scottish song. Here’s the last verse of Burns’ rendition:

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!(friend)
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!(give us your hand)
And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught,(take a good-will draught)
For auld lang syne,(long, long ago)

Chorus:

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

Sources: Around the Sophienburg; Sophienburg Museum and Archives Collection

Originally appeared December 2012.

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New Year’s Eve was known in the New Braunfels area as Sylvester’s Abend even by my dad who was a child of The Great Depression. Myra Lee Adams Goff wrote an article, published Dec 30, 2012, on the tradition of grand, dress-up dances held on Sylvester’s Abend. Locations such as Matzdorff’s Halle (present-day Eagles Hall), Sweet Home Hall at Solms, Walhalla at Smithson’s Valley, Teutonia Halle, Anhalt, Landa Park, Reinarz Hall, Schwab Hall, Lenzen Hall and many smaller halls hosted Sylvester’s Abend celebrations. Matzdorff’s was an early venue in the city that held numerous dances, singing festivals, and concerts of all kinds throughout the year. On February 25, 1878, Mattzdorff’s was the scene for a grand concert by the internationally known pianist and celebrity, “Blind Tom”.

Thomas Greene Wiggins was born a slave in Columbus, GA, in 1848. Born blind, he was left to wander around the Bethune Plantation. Sound was his passion. He would mimic the cries of animals, birds and men – even drag chairs across the floor or bang pots and pans to make noise. At age four, Blind Tom was able to repeat a ten-minute conversation, yet he could not communicate his own needs; he resorted to whines, grunts and gestures. After hearing one Bethune daughter play piano, Tom found the outlet for his creative soul. By age five, he composed his first tune, The Rain Storm, after listening to a torrential downpour on a tin roof. He had an encyclopedic memory for sound, be it spoken word or musical notation, and could imitate anything he heard. The little slave boy was installed in the Big House and Bethune brought in music tutors. Tom was licensed out to Perry Oliver, a travelling showman, who marketed Tom as “The Wonder of the World. The Marvel of the Age”.

By age six, Blind Tom performed to sell-out houses throughout Georgia. His performances earned him an invitation to play before President James Buchanan making him the first African-American musician to officially perform in the White House. He was eleven years old.

During the Civil War, Blind Tom became absorbed by the sounds of war – the crunch of marching feet, the beating of drums, the pops and booms of artillery were all music to his gifted ears. He composed his most celebrated composition, The Battle of Manassas, at age fourteen.

After the war, Blind Tom toured across North America and Europe. His performances included beautiful classical pieces, popular folk songs, imitations of banjos and other instruments, and playing two songs at once – one with each hand! Audience members would test his memory of a tune and he perfectly met each challenge. As they enthusiastically applauded his efforts, Tom would perform spectacular leaps across the stage and howl along with them.

There was a dark side to the fame. The joy he felt on stage was countered by the treatment of his managers. They kept him locked up alone in hotel rooms and after years of social and physical isolation, he became suspicious of strangers. Having no concept of money, he was easily exploited and manipulated by his guardians. Even though he was an emancipated slave, the Bethunes continued to manage his affairs. It has been estimated that he would have earned $5 million during his career; he, of course, never saw a penny. When the last Bethune son died, his estranged and angry wife traced down Blind Tom’s mother and persuaded her to mount a legal challenge to free Tom from the Bethunes. In 1887, the press announced that “The Last American Slave” had been set free. That freedom was fleeting; his mother naively handed Tom’s guardianship over to the Bethune ex-wife.

Tom spent his last years touring small towns across North America and even appeared on the vaudeville stage. In 1908, he died of a stroke at the age of sixty and was buried in a pauper’s grave in Brooklyn.

So what did the New Braunfels folk think about Blind Tom’s concert? I had only to look in the March 1, 1878 issue of the Neu Branfelser Zeitung. Under the headline, “A Wonder of Nature”, the article stated, ”…the performance far exceeded our expectations…a physiological riddle. [With] one distinct expression…this baffling creature plays the piano with virtuosity…he sings with a clear resonant voice. This person has the extraordinary perception and talent to repeat whatever is handed him…with passion that is astonishing.”

Blind Tom then sang the song Wenn die Schwalben heimwärts ziehen (When the Swallows Come Flying Home) in perfect German complete with proper emotion.

Today, Tom would be labeled an autistic savant. It is said that his unusual rocking and twitching and blank open-mouth expression would vanish the moment his fingers touched the piano keys. To the people of the mid-19th C, Blind Tom was seen as an eccentric oddball and gifted wonder of nature. They watched and listened in astonishment as his hands recreated a composition on the piano after only hearing the piece one time. They marveled and were inspired by the pure pleasure and joy he exhibited whilst playing and singing.

Tom Greene Wiggins was a very special man.

Sources:

• NB Zeitung, Feb 22 and March1, 1878; The Ballad of Blind Tom, by Deirdre O’Connell
• The Ballad of Blind Tom: Slave Pianist, America’s Lost Musical Genius — http://www.blindtom.org

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