Events at
Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Geboorte

Christmas is explicitly present in Tongres Basilica. Festive Christmas lights. Giant Christmas trees. Lots of greenery. And a Christmas village with seven different scenes. Each weekend, the set-up is adapted to the time of year. From the Annunciation to the Visit of the Three Wise Men. Traditionally on the evening of the opening of the Christmas village, just before the beginning of Advent, the Friends of the Nativity sit together around a drink to discuss the set-up for the next year. Each year a different theme is taken up, this year pole houses and water features were chosen. The construction of this Christmas village is paid for each year with the money thrown into the ponds and wishing well by the many visitors.

More than twenty thousand visitors come to the Christmas village every year. In the Christmas meadow, there are pleasant seats for children. Many classes like to come and listen to beautiful Christmas stories. Groups come to sing at the nativity scene. A highlight is always the vigil. A primary school class from Tongeren comes that evening to watch and sleep in and around the crib. They evening meals together, listen and sing, watch a Christmas film, try to get some sleep and get a nice breakfast in the morning.

The big moment is the distribution of the Peace Light that the Friends collected from the central distribution point in Eupen. In a torchlight procession, the Peace Light is brought to the basilica from where it is further distributed throughout the diocese of Hasselt. The packed church prays for peace, listens to contemplative words and the stylish performance of a choir and orchestra.

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