Flaming yules to be Bethel business tools

By Erick Slatterly | Manor Ink

Bethel, NY – A new ritual is coming to Sullivan County: the Bethel Big Burn.

Originally a celebration called “Buergbrennen,” the spectacle is a Northern European tradition that dates back hundreds of years. Historically, the event, which entails creating a huge communal bonfire, started in Luxembourg to mark the spring equinox and was held on the first Sunday in Lent. Since then it has evolved and youth organizations have brought back the tradition by burning Christmas trees.

Bethel’s version, the Big Burn, was born out of the desire to bring communities and businesses together in the winter, and is being organized by the Bethel Business Association. The group has been collecting old Christmas trees from residents across the county and is preparing a huge communal bonfire – with flames expected to potentially rise 600 feet into the air.

“What we really want to do is put a countywide ritual in place which will be self-replicating and will continue as it has in Europe for 1,500 years,” said James Loney, one of the organizers and owner of Sticky Fingers Delectables in Bethel. “We’re going to light up the night, we’re going to invoke the light of spring.”

The ritual itself is seen as a farewell to the winter season and a welcoming of new life in spring. For Loney and other small business owners, it’s a great way to keep small businesses engaged and active in the winter months, a time when business is slow due to the region’s seasonal cycle.

“February and March, I think all of us agree, are the hardest weeks of the year,” Loney said. “Most local businesses are down on their knees – there’s barely any cash flow. So what we want to do is get a whole bunch of people together in the early evening, and then let them go out and have a good time at a local restaurant or something like that.”

The Bethel Big Burn will kick off a weekend that will also include Bethel’s annual King of the Ice fishing contest. The Christmas tree conflagration will take place on Saturday followed by anglers on White Lake’s ice on Sunday.

“It’s gonna be a hootenanny. We are putting something in place that will be going literally in 250 years. That’s our intention. That’s our ambition,” Loney said.