CHERRYVILLE, N.C. — A New Year’s tradition hundreds of years old echoed through Cherryville on Thursday as families fired muskets 19 hours to ring in the new year and ward off evil spirits.
Families lined up to fire off their muskets a couple of blocks from downtown. Every hour, on the hour, the Cherryville New Year’s Shooters were heard across town and sometimes farther.
“We do it to scare the demons away,” said resident Dillon Hull.
“It’s a longstanding tradition to ward out the old spirits and to bring in the new year,” resident Robert Coleman said.
Part of the tradition starts off with a chant as folks travel around town visiting homes and farms. There have been very few injuries over the years because the muskets don’t fire anything, police said. However, it’s very loud.
“It’s just black powder,” said Rusty Wise, with the Cherryville New Year’s Shooters. “There are no projectiles. It all burns. There’s nothing really but smoke that comes out of the barrel and just a loud ‘Bang.’”
Every year, police said they get some phone calls about muskets being fired off. The calls come from mostly from newcomers to town who don’t know about the tradition.
“He told me about it, and I thought it would be fun,” said resident Emily Stocker. “And now, it’s kind of a tradition.”
Many families pass the tradition onto the younger generation in hopes it continues for many more years.
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