Peace will be in motion again this year at Christmastime, as the 65th Annual Christmas Peace Pilgrimage from Nazareth to Bethlehem is slated to make strides for peace during the Yuletide season Dec. 14.

People dedicated to peace have been gathering to walk the 10 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem along Route 191 the second Saturday in December for 65 years. It is the world’s oldest peace witness.

“The Peace Pilgrimage, begun in 1960 and symbolic of the journey of Mary and Joseph, provides all of us — those who walk, those who pass us on the highway, and those who read about the walk — an opportunity to consider the true meaning of Christmas,” Nancy Johnston, a member of the pilgrimage planning committee involved with the pilgrimage since 1986, said.

“The sight of 400 pilgrims walking with stars and peace signs inspires us to focus on the need for Peace on Earth,” Johnston said, encouraging people to walk with their family and or friends.

Walkers will meet at the parking lot at 529 E. Broad St., Bethlehem, at 10:15 a.m. before buses depart promptly at 10:45 a.m., transporting pilgrims to Nazareth Moravian Church where the pilgrimage begins at 11:45 a.m. There are two scheduled rest stops: Trinity Lutheran Church, 323 Nazareth Pike (Rt. 191), where apples will be served at 1:30 p.m.; and First Baptist Church, 3235 Linden St., Bethlehem, where hot cocoa will be served at 2:45 p.m.

A candle lighting will take place at College Hill Moravian Church, W. Durham and Masslich streets, Bethlehem, at 4:30 p.m. “Walkers are given lanterns with candles as it’s starting to get dark — the light is very magical,” Johnston said.

Carol Singing at Payrow Plaza follows at 5 p.m. Fellowship, conversation and a light supper wrap up the day at Christ Church United Church of Christ, 75 E. Market St., at 5:30 p.m.

Walkers are encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather — pilgrims walk in sun, wind, rain or snow.

Johnston said for those concerned about their ability to complete the full 10 miles, there are frequent rest stops every two miles along the way as well as relief transportation, known as shepherds. These support vehicles are available to pick up those who would like assistance for part of the way or a ride back to their vehicles.

Walkers may join the pilgrimage anywhere along the way, and a supportive police escort presence makes crossing at busy intersections safe.

“It’s more than a walk,” Johnston said, encouraging those not able to join the pilgrims to consider participating in a related event, including A Christmas Carol Sing at Payrow Plaza at approximately 5 p.m.

There will be a simple supper, singing with the LEPOCO (Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern) Peace Singers and LEPOCO Peace Boutique offering peace-themed cards, buttons and bumper stickers, fair trade coffee and chocolate, and crafts from around the world available for purchase at Christ Church United Church of Christ at Market and Center streets at approximately 5:30 p.m.

People may also make a monetary donation to support the financial expenses of the walk, such as bus rental, police escort and food.

Johnston has walked the entire pilgrimage route four times in the almost 40 years she’s been involved with the peace walk. Other years, she’s helped out in other ways, such as being a child-care person or a shepherd, which she is doing this year by driving her car with the entourage from noon until 2 p.m.

Johnston first became involved through the Lehigh Valley Quakers, as the late Fran Dreisbach of Easton was an organizer of the first Christmas Peace Pilgrimage.

“My sons and I would walk and it became part of our ritual, part of our holiday,” Johnston said.

Johnston is a member of the LEPOCO Peace Singers who will offer inspirational songs at the end of the pilgrimage. “We end with the song, ‘Go now in peace, may the love of peace surround you everywhere you go.”

She said some years out-of-town people on the pilgrimage have slept on the floor of the Quaker Meetinghouse in sleeping bags after the supper.

“I met a Buddhist monk at the hot chocolate church, and one year hosted a couple from New York state.”

Having been a nurse for 45 years, Johnston reached out to Giant Food Stores to donate first aid supplies for the walk, such as band aids and Tylenol.

“A couple of times it’s been very snowy and miserable. Some years it’s been 20 degrees, other years warm enough to wear shorts.”

“We invite all walkers to help carry our peace banner and peace stars,” Johnston said. “Homemade signs are welcome, and we ask that all language and imagery on signs be nonviolent, in keeping with our historic witness for peace.”

Johnston said one of the biggest pilgrimages had about 200 walkers in the early 1970s during the Vietnam War.

Johnston said this ecumenical holiday ritual has occurred despite wars ranging from Vietnam to current-day Ukraine and Gaza. Walkers have represented many states and intergenerational categories. Babies in strollers to 90-year-olds have made the pilgrimage. Some walkers have been walking since age 11.

“Even during the COVID pandemic when there was no walk, people had a “walk” on Zoom to share memories of the peace testimony,” Johnston said, adding about 45 people were on the Zoom share for about an hour.

For some the pilgrimage is a family affair, as some walkers are related to organizers of the first pilgrimage, Dreisbach and Bob Uhler of York.

Christine Murray, Dreisbach’s daughter and a member of the Lehigh Valley Quakers, has walked on about eight peace pilgrimages.

“Although my mother, father and three sisters all were on the first pilgrimage in 1960, I didn’t get to go because I had a bad cold. My mother arranged for me to stay with a family she knew in Nazareth. I ate supper with them, and later my family came and picked me up,” Murray said.

Murray went on the next seven pilgrimages during her teen years.

“I enjoyed walking with my friends from First Day School in our Quaker meeting. Every year, the church in Hecktown has graciously opened their doors to us for snacks and to use their nice bathrooms,” Murray said.

“One year it was so cold, my fingers were completely stiff. I couldn’t pull up the zipper on my pants. We girls had to help each other to do that and we giggled a lot in the bathroom.”

Uhler’s grandson John Bergdohl now participates in the pilgrimage with his children. Bergdohl is in charge of giving the shepherds their time slots.

“That’s four generations in one family,” Johnston said. “This ritual of the holidays comes through the years.”

Joey Hartman-Dow, a graphic artist on the peace walk planning committee, now lives in New Orleans and will be there for this year’s pilgrimage. She is the daughter of Rick Dow of the Lehigh Valley Quakers and their representative at the Lehigh Conference of Churches; and Donna Hartman, who Johnston recalled pushed 1-year-old Joey in her stroller at the walk in 1990.

“Come walk with us and start your family legacy of participation in a peace testimony to reflect the nonviolent life of Jesus Christ and his truth of forgiving love,” Johnston said.

The Christmas Peace Pilgrimage can be contacted c/o Lehigh Conference of Churches, 457 W. Allen St., Allentown, PA 18102, 610-433-6421 ext. 6422, lvpeacewalk@gmail.com; or by calling Rick Dow, 610-442-2670.