How It All Started

As an international youth organization, the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides Movement totally agreed that they must support the new Christmas tradition of the Light of Peace (Peacelight), which was founded in 1986 by the broadcasting service ORF Upper Austria to support the national fundraising campaign “Licht ins Dunkel”.

Herbert Grünwald, the former head of the Viennese Guides & Scouts, helped to turn the event into a worldwide successful movement – with the assistance of international Girl Guides and Boy Scouts delegations of many countries.

In addition, other organizations, such as the fire brigade youth, the Red Cross, the Samaritans’ Association, and the Austrian rail company ÖBB distribute the Peacelight all over Austria.

From Bethlehem to Austria and all around the World

For more than 1,000 years, oil lamps have continuously burned at the grotto at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Each year, a child from Upper Austria travels as a pilgrim to obtain the light from the Grotto of the Nativity of baby Jesus in Bethlehem. The light is then transported to Austria in an explosion proof jar. At a Service of Dedication, normally held on the third Saturday in Advent, it is distributed to international Girl Guides and Boy Scouts delegations at the “Friedenslichtaussendungsfeier” to be shared by them afterwards. Each year approximately 1200 people from more than 20 different nations attend the event. Girl Guides and Boy Scouts have the task of spreading the light all around the world until December 24th, to make sure that everybody can receive the Peacelight on Christmas Eve. The light is shared with Scouting delegations from across Europe.

The Peacelight, a symbol of the Light of Christ, promotes peace, harmony, and unity amongst ALL people of the world. For several decades, Scouts and others around the world have actively promoted global peace and harmony through sharing Peacelight.

The Peace Light is a continuous flame originating in the grotto of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. It is shared person to person throughout the world with a message of peace and friendship. The Peace Light 2025 carries the message “Give Thoughts of Peace”. A small moment of reflection can make a big difference – let’s spread peace together.”

These Scouts return to their own countries and with a message of peace share the light with churches, hospitals, retirement homes, and places of public, cultural and political importance – to anyone who appreciates the significance of the gift.

Peace without Borders

Peacelight shone on the reopened Berlin Wall in 1989, crossed the border of the former Iron Curtain and was distributed to Eastern Europe in the 1990s. By now, the Peacelight has conquered the hearts of millions of people all over the globe and has become an international, indispensable Christmas tradition that is also honored by Pope Francis.

Scouting Encourages Meetings and Community

There is hardly any other organization in the world which has such a broad network as the Girl Guides and Boy Scouts network. Scouting friendships and contacts cross borders and continents, whereas international meetings have been taking place for over 110 years.

With the help of the big network of Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, the Peacelight can be distributed to many countries around the globe. New contacts and friendships resulting from the distribution are very pleasant and prove worthwhile.

“The Light of Friendship & Peace” was first introduced to the United States in 2000. It was flown from Oslo with a brief stopover in London before landing in Bartlesville, OK at the headquarters of Phillips Petroleum Co., the sponsors of the flight. The Peace Light quickly spread to six states in America’s heartland.

Following the tragic events of 9/11, the Austrian and United Kingdom Peacelight organizers privately brought the Light to Phillips Petroleum in Maine.  Met by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the light was taken to New York City where it was delivered to mortuary workers at “Ground Zero” with a message of peace and hope.  Soon after, an Austrian Delegation also delivered the Peacelight to New York City where it was formally presented to the Rector of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral as a gift and message of love for all in the United States.

Today, in cooperation with Austrian Scouts and Austrian Airlines, the Peacelight makes its long journey from Bethlehem to Tel Aviv to Vienna and finally safely across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City where the Catholic Committee on Scouting of the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens welcomes the light to the United States. From there Peacelight is shared by hundreds of Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and others throughout North America.

TAC/BSA Official Delegation

In 2022, 2023, and again in 2024, TAC Scouts represented Scouting America as the official U.S. delegation to the Peacelight service in Austria.

TAC forms a delegation consisting of the delegation lead, a speaker for intercession/prayer, light bearer, flag bearer. These latter three positions are for Scouts.

TAC looks forward to being the Scouting America representative in 2025! The Peacelight ceremony this year takes place on Saturday, December 6th, 2025, in Linz, Austria.

This year a livestream from the ceremony will be available. For more information follow The Association of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides of Austria (Pfadfinder und Pfadfinderinnen Österreichs, PPÖ) socials: