Shortly after 8 p.m. on Saturday, a train arrived at Brno\u2019s main station. Among the passengers stepping onto the platform were scouts carrying lanterns with the flame of the Bethlehem Light.<\/p>\n
Scout Alexandr Lai, nicknamed \u0160egy, described the ceremony in Linz to Czech Radio:<\/p>\n
“The ceremony began at two o\u2019clock with a welcome, and a few songs were sung. Then scouts from all over the world went to light the flame.”<\/p>\n
The journey took them almost four hours. From Linz, Austria, they had to go to Vienna, from Vienna to B\u0159eclav, and from there they boarded a train to Brno. The fire had to stay lit the entire time, describes Ane\u017eka Pohlov\u00e1, nicknamed Agnes:<\/p>\n
“We have two lanterns with us, but if there is an accident, we have an extra kerosene lantern in the car. However, if there were a major accident and all the lanterns went out, we would have to return for the Bethlehem Light.”<\/p>\n
The light bearers are chosen by the scouts each year based on merit. Both light bearers describe it as an honor and a rare privilege. “It’s a good experience and not everyone gets the chance to do it,” the scouts agree.<\/p>\n
A symbol of peace and love<\/p>\n
Believers and church representatives will welcome the light at Sunday afternoon mass in the cathedral in Brno’s Petrov district, adds local parish vicar Tom\u00e1\u0161 Z\u00e1me\u010dn\u00edk.<\/p>\n
“The Bethlehem Light belongs more to Christmas than to Advent. That\u2019s why it\u2019s nice that we can look forward to it, that we gradually welcome it in the Czech Republic. Advent is a time of waiting, of looking forward to something beautiful that is coming. The light can bring us that,” explains Z\u00e1me\u010dn\u00edk.<\/p>\n
The light represents a symbol of peace, love, hope, and friendship.<\/p>\n
“It also represents unity, that we can unite across nations, that we can carry the light, that it connects us, that the same light burns everywhere. All of this should be a bridge over all the problems we are experiencing in the world today,” adds the parish vicar.<\/p>\n
People will be able to take the Bethlehem Light home from December 13, when scouts will distribute it throughout the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shortly after 8 p.m. on Saturday, a train arrived at Brno\u2019s main station. Among the passengers stepping onto…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,30655,30656,12441,30657],"class_list":{"0":"post-55220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-czech-republic","12":"tag-radio-prague-international","13":"tag-religion","14":"tag-society"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}