Judith Kingsley of the Swiss Community Historical Society provided this invitation and history of Bluffton's oldest tradition. Click here for The Iconoclast View of this event.

New Year's Eve this year will once again find the residents of Mennonite Memorial Home in Bluffton enjoying the long-standing tradition of New Year's serenading, beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 31.

David Rothen
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.

All singers invited to join
Singers are encouraged to meet early in the lobby for a brief rehearsal. All interested persons are invited. Music will be provided, and since the songs are sung in both German and English, pronunciation guides will be available to assist with the German text.

Area church participants and the Swiss Community Historical Society welcome persons of all backgrounds to usher in the New Year through song and visiting at Mennonite Memorial Home.