New Year's

With a boisterous Christian majority in Liberia, the typical New Year’s Eve celebration takes place at the church, known locally as Watch Night. The congregation, young and old, gather in the evening to ‘sleep’ in the church. At first when hearing this, I thought that people went and prayed and then slept in the pews but there’s actually no sleeping involved! The pastor preaches and the choir sings and the people shout, pray and dance the New Year in – praising God for still being alive and requesting prosperity in the coming year. At most churches the service continues until 6 am when people finally disperse and head home to rest. On New Year’s Day many people take to the beach and that night is when the drinking and club scene celebrating takes place. People also feel it is very important to attend church on the first Sunday of January, in a way of demonstrating their faith. Apparently on Easter Sunday and First Sunday the churches are packed – similarly to Easter and Christmas in the US.