Doylestown Friends invites residents to join them in an effort to promote peace and create awareness of the devastating death and destruction from the United States’ use of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The time-honored tradition of Doylestown Friends Meeting for over 50 years will take place on Saturday, coinciding with the Aug. 9, 1945, bombing on Nagasaki. The vigil will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. rain or shine at the corners of State and Main Streets in Doylestown. Participants will assemble beforehand at beforehand at the meetinghouse located at 95 East Oakland Avenue.
Hiroshima Day, Aug. 6, marks the day the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, 80 years ago, while Nagasaki Day marks the bombing of that city three days later. assembling beforehand at the meetinghouse at 10 am.
Wendy Steginsky, clerk for Doylestown Friends Meeting, said the vigil can be a learning experience for people.
“It’s amazing how many, especially young people, have no clue. They don’t know what happened on August 6 and August 9, 1945, so this is kind of an educational thing for a lot of, you know, teenagers, a lot of young adults,” said Steginsky.
In addition to handing out educational materials to passersby and holding banners proclaiming “Abolish Nuclear Weapons,”, Doylestown Friends will provide peace cranes to distribute, and The Friends website offers a video on how to fold a peace crane for others to fold and bring their own cranes.
Peace cranes are origami cranes used as a symbol of peace in reference to the story of Sadako Sasaki, a victim of the Hiroshima Bombings widely known for folding a thousand origami cranes.
The peace cranes handed out explain the symbol of the peace crane and Sadako’s story.
READ: Hiroshima Marks 80 Years Since Atomic Bombing as Aging Survivors Worry About Growing Nuke Threat
“She died of irradiation-induced cancer after folding a thousand paper cranes hoping to be granted one final wish,” the crane reads. “Since then, the cranes have become a symbol of peace. This is our cry, this is our prayer. Peace in the world.”
The Doylestown Friends, part of the religious society of friends or Quakers, are historically pacifists. In addition to promoting nonviolence, the friends unite themselves on the core beliefs, known as testimonies, of equality, community, stewardship, integrity and truth, and simplicity. They live these testimonies through initiatives like the Doylestown food pantry and refugee support.
“[Testimonies] are guiding principles in our lives, and we really like to make people aware of some of the political-social issues that are happening,” said Steginsky.
