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Two old Pennsylvania German customs, one of which is still carried on in a modified way in isolated parts of the Shenandoah Valley, according to Dr. Elmer Smith, professor of anthropology at James Madison University, are Belsnickeling and New Year Shooting.
“In the old days, Belsnickeling began anytime during the week before Christmas and ended anytime during the week after,’’ Smith said. “People in old brown clothes and homemade masks visited their neighbors to look for bad girls and boys. Many present residents of the Valley remember being frightened almost to death when the hideous Belsnickeler made his appearance,” "Smith commented. “Some families would have none of it, and either locked their doors or sicced dogs on the revelers.”
“Those that did admit them tried to guess the identity of the Belsnickelers and afterwards treated them to refreshments, sometimes with hard cider. And the rowdy results of that treat, together with the increase in automobile transportation, eventually put an end to the widespread use of the custom.”
New Year Shooting usually occurred in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Smith explained that a group would call out for their neighbor, and if he responded, a long verse greeting beginning with the line, “Awake, awake, my neighbors dear,” was recited or sung, after which guns
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