Marburg community bonfire sparks social interaction
The event involved the community getting to know one another over a meal by firelight.
Research has shown that sitting around a bonfire at night enables conversations, storytelling and social bonding that rarely happens during daylight.
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And that’s exactly what transpired at the Active Citizens’ Movement’s (ACM) ‘Port Shepstone Community Bonfire’ at Hope Park in Marburg recently.
The event involved rounding up the community to get to know each over a meal. ACM’s Pastor Reggie John said that he found a really fascinating difference between conversations by firelight and conversations in the day.
“While daytime talk tended to focus on economic matters and gossip, at night around a bonfire, the conversation shifted away from the day-to-day tensions and towards singing, dancing, storytelling and chatting about common acquaintances,” explained Pastor John.
He added that when you were out in the dark by a fire, so many of the stimuli are shut out and your imagination then takes off. “The conversations also seemed to serve an important social function, with discussion of far-flung acquaintances both alive and dead, that can serve to reinforce that broader social network.”
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