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For 35+ years, the cold, night sky surrounding the Enon community has been carrying on the old family tradition of fireballing between Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

So, it was on Saturday night, January 4, 2025, that the Enon night sky was a-blaze with fireballs here, yonder, over there.

Fireballers of all ages and from all around Pike County and beyond spilled out of cars and trucks like jelly beans to toss or chunk around handmade fireballs of kerosene-soaked cotton material. Some fireballers wore gloves for tossing; most did not.

Not only is fireballing a tradition, in Enon, it’s a celebration of community.

Barbara Henderson Currie said fireball throwing is more of a tradition in her mother’s family, the Ingrams, than in her dad’s. However, fireballing is deeply- rooted in the Enon/Josie communities thanks to Barbara Currie and her brothers, Dennis, Durwood, Dwight and David, who, each year, close the pasture, open the gate and “throw” a community party like no other.

But, back during the cold winter months, Barbara Currie sat by the fire and wound buckets of cotton thread into tightly wound balls and dropped them into buckets of kerosene to soak for three months to be ready for fireballing.

Now, the winding of the balls has been turned over to the nieces.

“My husband, Harold, and I do most of the lighting of the balls at the fireballing,” Currie said. “But, I can remember my mother telling how her family would sit around the fireplace during the cold, long, winter months unraveling their old cotton socks and winding the string tightly into fireballs.”

Back then, socks were made of cotton, now crocheting thread is used.

At some point while making the fireballs, Currie said it’s wise to stop winding and start stitching, so the fireballs don’t fall apart.

The Henderson family entertains no thoughts of not hosting the annual fireballing tradition. Not only are the holiday celebrations fun, they are an American tradition, probably originating across the ocean in the 16th or 17th centuries.

Fireballing is a tradition that should be preserved. The Henderson family believes in tradition so they will carry on the tradition of fireballing in Pike County.