Peace Pole Placed in Granby

A group of Granby children completed a peace pole project at Granby’s First Congregational Church this past weekend, affixing the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in to a substantial wooden post in eight different languages.

The original peace pole was had its beginnings in Japan in 1955 as a unifying message of acceptance and non-violence. The Granby peace pole joins more than 100,000 poles in more than 180 countries, according to the World Peace Prayer Society, which administers the project.

Linda Betsch, a First Congregational Church member who helped lead the group of seventh graders and eighth graders in crafting the pole and attaching the peace message.

She explained why the group chose the following eight languages: English, as the native tongue; Spanish and French, as Granby students take one of the two languages in school; Lakota, because of the church’s ties to South Dakota Lakota people; Korean, because the church partners with a church in Suwon, South Korea; German, as the church has a population of German parishioners; Arabic, to include the Middle East; and Swahili, to represent Africa.

The young parishioners placed the pole at the church during the weekend. If you stop by the church, you’ll likely notice the peace pole, due to its height of about 12 feet, multilingual design and powerful message.