The Lawrence Historical Society’s New Year’s Eve event features a roaring bonfire where participants may toss lists of bad things from 2005 they may wish to forget.
By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
If John Brearley II were alive, it’s likely that he would join in the fun of the annual Hogmanay bonfire slated for New Year’s Eve in the Great Meadow just outside the doorstep to his 18th-century farmhouse at the end of Meadow Road.
The bonfire will be lighted in the meadow, a stone’s throw from the township-owned 1761 Brearley House, at 6 p.m. Sunday. Sponsored by the Lawrence Historical Society, the event is free and open to the public.
A bagpiper will play as participants toss into the flames lists of bad things from 2005 that they may wish to forget. Inside the Brearley House, revelers can enjoy refreshments along with old-time fiddle music.
The annual bonfire grew out of a casual conversation among Lawrence Historical Society members about 10 years ago, said historical society member Joe Logan. Although the details of that discussion are lost in history, he said, the group decided that a bonfire was a good idea.
"I grew up with bonfires (on New Year’s Eve)," said Mr. Logan, who was raised in Savannah, Ga. "I thought it was sort of normal. It was a rite of passage. After the (historical society) decided on the bonfire, we started to think about it a little."
Mr. Logan said a friend, who is British, told him that holding a bonfire on New Year’s Eve is an old Scottish tradition. Noting that the Brearley family emigrated to Lawrence Township from Yorkshire, England just across the border from Scotland Mr. Logan said it is likely that the custom was known to them.
Lawrence Historical Society members researched bonfires and discovered the customs of Hogmanay and the tradition of a New Year’s Eve bonfire was born, Mr. Logan said.
No one knows the origin of the name "Hogmanay," according to Web site www.Hogmanay.net. It may be Gaelic for "new morning," or it may be Anglo-Saxon for "new month." It may be derived from the Norman French word for "gift at New Year."
The roots of Hogmanay reach back to pagan practices of sun and fire worship in the deepest days of mid-winter, the Web site said. It was a low-key holiday in Scotland until 1992, when Edinburgh hosted the European Union heads of state conference.
The flames and fire symbolize many things, the Web site said. They may symbolize the bringing of the light of knowledge from one year to the next, or they may symbolize putting behind you the darkness of the past and carrying forward the flames of hope.
For further information or directions to the Lawrence Historical Society’s Hogmanay celebration, call (609) 895-1728 or go to the society’s Web site at www.thelhs.org. In the event of inclement weather and possible cancellation on Sunday, call (609) 895-1728 or (609) 896-0782.

