Plane for end of the world' parties

What better way to celebrate the end of the world than with a few friends and some adult beverages?

Several bars in central New Jersey are planning to ring in the supposed "end of the world" Friday, Dec. 21, with apocalyptic-themed parties.

After all, if the world is going to end, you don't have to worry about that hangover or the expensive bar tab.

"The World isn't going to end, but we invite you to party like it is!" writes The Brown Stone bar, an Edison watering hole that's hosting a "The Mayans Were Wrong"-themed party.

Many people believe – incorrectly, according to experts – that the ancient Mayan civilization predicted that the world will end tomorrow.

Rutgers University religion professor Stuart Charme, a noted Mayan apocalypse skeptic, said that the people who throw end-of-the-world parties don't actually believe that the world is going to end.

"It probably is the case that in the face of even the slight little bit of anxiety of something like this, people want to be with other people," Charme said. "If you’re young and someone who does parties and likes to be with peers, my guess is that would be the place you’d want to be, in addition to which the tone of these places is pretty much not taking this seriously."

Charme would know; he's having a party of his own. He's inviting students who have taken his courses on the end of the world to his house in Pennsylvania for a small get-together. Students are planning apocalyptic Pictionary and charades, he said.

"It presents certain kinds of challenges in terms of party favors and menus," Charme said. "The few (parties) that I’ve seen are trying to be funny and clever about survival and apocalyptic themes and putting them into their menu and activities."

It's also possible that the parties are an expression of ironic mockery. But perhaps that's too academic.

"The simple answer is probably that people will use anything as an excuse for a party," Charme said. "My guess is, people who are attending these things are no more believers, maybe even less so than the rest of the population. It’s an interesting fact that capitalism is able to find a way to market even the end of the world."

A list of seven end-of-the-world parties at bars in Somerset and Middlesex countiesis available on newsbrunswicknightout.com.

And for believers in the Mayan apocalypse, Charme has some comforting words.

"The idea that our feeble way of dividing time into days and weeks has a connection to what’s going on in the universe as a whole is a bit self-centered of us," he said.