Sunday, 7 PM. Miller barn (this week's turn). 30 young people (16-23). Benches. Candles. Songbooks (German, Gothic font, no musical notes).
First hymn: Vorsinger (song leader) begins. One note. Long. Others join. Slowly. Very slowly. One verse — 5-10 minutes. Full hymn — 20-30 minutes. Three hymns — ninety minutes.
Why So Slow
Ausbund (hymnal, 1564) has no musical notation. Melodies passed orally. 500 years. Each generation — slightly slower (memory distorts). In 1564 a hymn took 5 minutes. Today — 25. In 100 years — 40? Maybe.
After
Hymns done. Boys and girls socialize (carefully, everyone's watching). Tea, cookies, conversation. Some leave as a pair (he drives her home in buggy — the beginning). Some leave alone (next time). Silence on the road home. Stars. Clip-clop. Hymn melody in the head — slow, like the life they've chosen.