On December 11, anyone will be able to receive the Flame of Bethlehem for their home at train stations in 24 cities of Ukraine. For this purpose, safe stands will be installed there.
Bethlehem Flame of Peace travels to the cities of Ukraine
For the third time, the national railway transport company Ukrzaliznytsia will deliver the Flame of Peace to 24 railway stations in Ukraine in less than a day.
This was reported by the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia.
On 10 December, at 18:40, the fire was handed over from the Plast scouting organisation to representatives of Ukrzaliznytsia. As part of the joint event, the commanders of 14 trains will deliver the fire to 24 railway stations in the country, including Kramatorsk, Pokrovsk and Izyum stations, in less than a day, the statement said.
The company added that already on December 11, anyone will be able to receive the Flame of Bethlehem for their home at the stations of Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Sumy, Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernihiv, Lutsk, Odesa, Poltava, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Lviv, Uzhgorod, Ternopil, Korosten, Znamyanka, Izyum, Pokrovsk and Kramatorsk, where safe stands with the Bethlehem Flame of peace will be installed.
The Bethlehem Flame of Peace is an international annual scouting event for Christmas celebrations. A symbolic fire is lit by scouts in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem and spread to other countries. Fire symbolizes peace, love and goodness. This tradition has existed since 1984. Fire first appeared in Ukraine in 1992.
What is known about moving the date of Christmas to December 25
At the end of July, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed a law on moving the dates of Christmas, Ukrainian Statehood Day, and the Day of Defenders of Ukraine. The relevant document was adopted by the parliament on July 14.
The fact that the law was signed by the president is stated in the draft law card No. 9431.
MPs adopted the following changes:
December 25 – Christmas (instead of January 7);
July 15 – Ukrainian Statehood Day (instead of July 28);
October 1 is the Day of Defenders of Ukraine (instead of October 14).
In the explanatory note, it was emphasised that the dates should be changed in order to "renounce the Russian heritage".
