Ring Shout

The ring shout is an African American sacred tradition of the Georgia and South Carolina coast, in which worshippers shuffle counterclockwise in a circle, never crossing the feet so the movement is not classed as dancing, while singing spirituals in call and response. No instruments are used: the percussion comes from handclapping and a stick beaten on the wooden floor. Preserved by Gullah Geechee communities in praise houses and Watch Night services, it is regarded as the oldest continuously practised African American performance tradition, a direct survival of African circle ceremony within Black Christianity.