Peace Pole Pilgrimage

Every week day morning during the nine-week season at Chautauqua, people gather around the Peace Pole outside the Hall of Missions for five minutes of prayer for peace. I’ve seen some other poles on the grounds. Reba said her church in Mission Hills has one, too. I noticed in the program that there was a peace pole pilgrimage this morning at 9 a.m. starting on the north end of the grounds on Mina Edison Avenue so I went to learn more. (Historical trivia: Mina Miller Edison was Thomas Edison’s wife and daughter of Lewis Miller, one of the two founders of Chautauqua.) John was driving to pick up the trailer in Mentor, Ohio so he dropped me off on his way.

10 people took the pilgrimage led by Joan Smith and Diane Clark. They gave us a list of the 20 peace poles on the grounds, along with the languages on them and the occasion of its installation (birthday present, Christmas present, or in honor of someone). I walked with them to the first six, and then took some time later in the afternoon to find the rest of them and take photographs. At two of the houses, the owner came out and talked about the occasion of its installation and why they chose the languages. When you order your pole you have many languages to choose from. This is Clayton Smith with his 2004 Christmas present pole. It has English, German, Lakota Sioux and Paws.

Dan Gottovi and his grandson talk about their pole that was Dan's birthday present in 2009 and has English, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic.
Diane Clark had an interesting story. In 1985 she was part of a group that walked across America and planted peace poles in over 200 cities in public parks.

The Peace Pole Project is the official project of the World Peace Prayer Society, started in 1955 in Japan. You can read more about it on their website.