First Sunday in June

This is a longer read, but it’s a good one. I’ve spoken to several folks in their 90s that clam to have attended “First Sunday in June” for their whole life, and that their parents attended well before them.

I think it’s wonderful that we have the opportunity to continue such a long standing tradition and I hope to see many of you at Shady Hill every year on the first Sunday in June.

The following is an account of how the event was viewed and approached by some of the Bass family.

First Sunday in June Singing

The Sacred Harp singing at Shady Hill Church was always one of the most important days of the year for our family. Mama (Flara Bass [Rowell]) always started food preparations days ahead of time. The boys would take a bead on the head of a big fat hen with their rifle. One shot would do it. It was a little more difficult to shoot a couple of fryers but the boys very proudly managed that, too. These would be cleaned, cut up, and refrigerated. Turnips were cleaned and made ready for the pot ahead of time too. Mama made the best tarts of anybody I ever knew. She put any kind of preserves inside and then fried or baked them. A cake was baked and iced. Tea cakes were baked. We had enough of these even though Ralph always managed to snitch a few while they were still hot.

Mama would start the cooking of dinner early Sunday morning with the help of Daddy (J. Bennett Bass). They cooked breakfast and dinner at the same time. We might even get a piece of fried chicken for breakfast. What a treat! Later Mama would leave Daddy with the cooking long enough to see that the younger children were bathed and dressed for church. As we got older, we girls helped with the cooking instead of Daddy. The boys always had to see about filling the water barrel on the back of the truck for drinking at the singing.

Kinfolks would often stop by before going on to church. We’d be singing together as we worked in the kitchen. When any family member came through, they’d join in too. Sometimes the kinfolks would be inside the house joining in the singing before we knew they were on the place. Oh, what fun times!

We nearly always got a new suit of clothing in the spring. That was Easter. If we were lucky, and we usually were, we got more new clothing for the first Sunday in June. We proudly showed off our new clothes on this day when we saw so many people in one day.

The singing started about 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. Daddy always went ahead of time; the rest of the family would try to get there by 10:00. Many people went and stayed outside the church the whole time, visiting from one group of people to the other. They’d even carry lawn chairs and quilts to sit on beside their parked cars. All of Mama and Daddy’s children were expected to go inside the church at least for part of the time. We could all sing sacred harp, some of us better than others. Some of us attended singing school for Sacred Harp at Beda church one summer. Learning to read the notes and then sing the words was easy for us because we already knew most of the tunes. So we were often asked to lead a couple of songs at the singing.

At noon the singers would dismiss for about an hour. That was long enough to unpack dinner and eat. Mama always had her dinner in large boxes. One year she even emptied the old trunk and carried her dinner in that. We children helped Mama spread the dinner.

Some of us would take paper plates and plastic spoons and forks and pass them out to any visitors standing around. Most drinks were moved to a certain area of the long table or to a separate table. Several people would fill cups with ice and pour different kinds of drinks for the people to pick up. After the blessing was offered by the pastor, everyone converged on the long table to fill plates and get a drink. The people would sit or stand to eat. The front of a car, the back of a truck, or a quilt could be used for a table to eat.

After dinner the singers would go back inside to sing until 3:00 to 3:30. Each leader would lead two songs. The last hour or so was used to sing favorite songs in memory of departed loved ones. -Hazel Trawick [Bass]