Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič's wife Silvia was presented with the Light of Bethlehem by Slovak Scouts at the Presidential Palace in Bratislava on Saturday, December 12, the SITA newswire wrote.
The distribution of the Light of Bethlehem, which was originally lit in the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, has a 21-year tradition. On December 13 the flame was blessed at a ceremony in St. Emeramus's Cathedral in Nitra and was then presented to the Slovak public.
Next Sunday, the fourth in Advent, the light will be distributed by scouts to people throughout Slovakia. The little flame will then be taken further east to areas in which most people profess Orthodox Christianity and celebrate Christmas in January. It will travel across Poland, the Baltic countries and Russia.
It will be also possible to light a candle from the Bethlehem Light from certain trains on Sunday, December 19, as the Scouts will travel with the flame throughout the country, SITA wrote.
The trains will be: the fast train Vtáčnik from Bratislava to Prievidza, fast train MALL.SK from Bratislava to Humenné, fast train Urpín/Domica from Bratislava to Košice and the fast train Horehronec from Bratislava to Margecany as well as these normal trains: Os 2008 from Bratislava to Kúty, Os 2609 from Kúty to Trnava, Os 3808 from Trenčianska Teplá to Horné Srnie, Os 5003 from Šurany to Nitra, Os 7554 from Zvolen to Martin a Os 7911 from Kraľovany to Trstená; Os 8315 from Poprad to Stará Ľubovňa, Os 3300 from Kysak to Plaveč, Os 8969 from Humenné to Medzilaborce and Os 9116 from Humenné to Prešov. The project will also continue in normal trains Os 9113/Os 9211 from Prešov to Bardejov, Os 9419 from Humenné to Stakčín, Os 2414 from Kúty to Skalica and Os 8810 from Čierna nad Tisou to Košice.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
