Celebration with Traditional Bethlehem Light of Peace

For fifteen years in a row, the members of the Scout Association of Croatia have been participating in the Christmas tradition of carrying the Bethlehem Light. This year, bringing the light of peace and tolerance to Croatia has also been the way to celebrate the first 100 years of the Association’s existence.

For fifteen years in a row, scouts of the Scout Association of Croatia have participated in the international project to carry the Bethlehem Light – the Light of Peace.
 
The Light of Peace idea originates from Austria where in 1986, a lady wanted to give something of value to the world and indeed she did – she gave the world a light as the symbol of peace, love, tolerance and all the other fundamental human values. Since then, the scouts have been involved in this project as an organization which promotes all things noble and of service to people. 

Croatian scouts, members of the Scout Association of Croatia have again done their bit. On 15 December, they returned from Vienna with the Bethlehem Light lanterns and brought them to the Zagreb Cathedral where a special service was organized to welcome them. In addition to the diligent scouts, the service was attended by the representatives of the Croatian Parliament and Government. From the Cathedral, the scouts took the Bethlehem Light around Croatia. It traveled by train to Rijeka, Split, Osijek and Vinkovci, from where it was taken to parishes with active scout organizations.
This event was also the end of a string of celebrations marking the great jubilee of the Croatian Scout Association - the 100th anniversary of its existence. 

It all started with an idea which was implemented by twenty young men at 8 o'clock on 1 August 1907 on the island of Brownsea in Great Britain. Their leader, the pioneer of the scout movement, Lord Robert Baden Powel, opened the first scout camp by blowing into his Kudu Horn and thus created a movement that soon spread across the world. Today, there are 216 national scout associations with more than 28 million scouts gathered into a family known as the World Organization of Scout Movement. This is the most numerous young people’s organization worldwide. The Croatian Scout Movement’s 4,000-strong membership is constantly on the rise and today the organization is the biggest national association whose main task is to provide non-formal education to children and adolescents.