Here's something for new year's eve. It's Bluffton's oldest annual tradition.

Click here for an Iconoclast View of this tradition.

Traditional new year's caroling/serenading of the two David Rothen hymns of pre-1840s will again be sung on Dec. 31, 2015, led by the Swiss Historical Society. 

Carolers will start at the lobby of Mennonite Memorial Home, 410 West Elm St., Bluffton, at 5 p.m. Copies of the carols in English, German and as a pronouncing guide are attachments at the bottom of this story.

For new singers, if any of you wish to come 15 minutes earlier, that's a chance for new folks to familiarize themselves with words and tunes of these traditional two Swiss-German songs. Music sheets will be furnished.

Gary and Donna Lora will lead the caroling this year. The event includes singing two verses in German and two verses in English, in response to a request from residents who appreciate the music but do not know German.

After moving about in this building as a group, some may want to drive to Maple Crest and continue singing these songs. It can take as little as a half hour, or as long as 1 1/2 hours depending on how long an individualwants to sing.
 
David Rothen background
This musical tradition dates back to the mid-19th century, when David Rothen, a teacher in the Swiss settlement of rural Bluffton/Pandora, composed two New Year's songs, taught them to his students, and took these students to sing at the homes of their families on New Year's Day.

Rothen was born in 1805 in Canton Vaud, Switzerland, trained there to become a teacher, and taught school in southern Germany before emigrating to the United States with his wife Barbara in 1832.

He had composed several hymns while in Europe, and after settling in the local Swiss settlement continued to gain wide recognition as an excellent teacher and as a musician.

When Rothen died in the typhoid epidemic of 1853, the music and lyrics of his New Year's songs were lost until some of his students decided to recreate them from memory.

Their efforts resulted in the songs that have been used for more than a century in the Bluffton/Pandora area, formerly for outdoor house-to-house serenading by members of several local churches, and more recently as a service to the residents of Mennonite Memorial Home.

The new year carols are attachments below:

Attachment 1
Attachment 2
Attachment 3