District secretary of the youth fire department Carina Kampner, district fire department commander Rudolf Katzengruber, district fire department deputy Josef Fuchsberger, fire department commander of the Haag section Josef Hirtenlehner and fire department deacon Franz Wimmer are preparing for the light peace campaign with the Behamberg youth fire department.
Photo: NÖN Amstetten, (c) Wolfgang Zarl
IIn many towns in the Amstetten district, young people from the fire department distribute the Bethlehem Light of Peace on December 24th.
District fire commander Rudolf Katzengruber, his deputy Josef Fuchsberger and district fire department youth officer Carina Kampner are pleased with the highly motivated young people. “It is a sign of peace on a small and large scale, of lived-in neighborhood and community”, they emphasize. Katzengruber and Kampner are bringing the light of peace this year. This is then distributed to the population in many locations through youth firefighters.
Custom of the Light of Peace
The custom of the Bethlehem light of peace goes back to an initiative by the ORF regional studio in Upper Austria, which had this light first lit in 1986 by a child on the star in the grotto of Jesus' birth and brought to Austria. Many European countries have joined in, including in Eastern Europe since the end of the Eastern Bloc in 1989, and the custom is now also known in North and South America.
Due to the conflict in the Middle East and restricted air traffic, the delegation's traditional trip to Belém with ORF Oberösterreich and Friedenslichtkind had to be canceled this year – as was the case in 2012 and 2015 because of the conflict in the region and in 2020 and 2021 because of the corona pandemic. However, the lighting of the light of peace at the birthplace of Christ was carried out by a child, the twelve-year-old Palestinian Christian girl Pillar Jarayseh, before the light was taken to Amman and from there to Vienna.