“Advent Festival of 100,000 Lights” with stored peace lights

On Saturday the Light of Peace comes to Germany: Then ARD will broadcast the show “The Advent Festival of 100,000 Lights” with Florian Silbereisen from Suhl (Thuringia). Every year, one of the guests is the current ORF Peace Light Child, who brings the glowing Christmas symbol with him.

However, this year for the first time the Peace Light does not come directly from Bethlehem: As the ORF reported, the Boy Scouts in Austria have kept the Peace Light that was brought from Bethlehem last year. This will be redistributed this year because of the war in the Middle East.

Nine-year-old peace light child

Traditionally, on the initiative of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF), the Peace Light is lit every year by a different “Peace Light Child” in the grotto of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. There will also be such a Peace Light Child in 2024 – even if it doesn’t travel to Bethlehem. Nine-year-old Matthias Secklehner from Gschwandt near Gmunden took the light in Christkindl, Bethlehem’s twin town in Steyr, Upper Austria, and will now bring it to Germany, according to ORF. He himself is considered very helpful and gave first aid to a hiker who had an accident. He told ORF: “For me, peace means that there is no fear and no arguments, and that we help each other and get along well with each other.”

The peace light is a symbol of friendship, community and understanding between all peoples. On the Saturday before the 3rd Sunday of Advent, the peace symbol will be passed on to international Boy Scout delegations at an ecumenical sending ceremony in Vienna. They distribute it to Europe and America.