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Group to mark Victory Day

X-Roads of the City Peace Initiatives (Photograph supplied)

A tree planting ceremony will be held at the house of the Governor tomorrow to recognise national and religious celebrations.

The X-Roads of the City Peace Initiative, an interfaith co-operation group, will celebrate Victory Day in honour of its mission to create harmony between religions with a Tree of Reconciliation and Peace ceremony.

The ceremony will see a small tree planted at Government House in Pembroke and will be overseen by John Rankin, the Governor, and the Right Reverend Nicholas Dill, the Anglican Bishop of Bermuda.

A spokesman for the X-Roads of the City said that the ceremony also encouraged religious communities to work towards environmental protection and providing food for those in need.

He said: “All peoples will be encouraged to create Climate Victory Gardens for greater food security and Climate Victory Forests for improved carbon drawdown in celebration of this unique moment in modern history.”

Victory Day was set up to honour Eid al-Fitr, which celebrates the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and the fifth anniversary of the Laudato si’ encyclical, a letter sent by Pope Francis that urged the Catholic Church to take action against poverty and climate change.

Victory Day also recognises Canadian Victoria Day, the United States Memorial Day Weekend and the African Unity Day — all of which take place near the end of May.

The X-Roads of the City is an inter-religious peace group created after the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand on March 15 last year.

The terrorist attack involved a gunman killing 51 people and injuring 49 in a targeted attack against the New Zealand Muslim community.

A spokesman for X-Roads of the City said that Bermuda acted as a “uniquely suitable host for online healing” between the local Muslim and Catholic communities during this time.

He added: “The Tree of Reconciliation and Peace Ceremony at Government House will serve as a perpetual reminder of Bermuda’s continuing value as a unique venue for peaceful resolution of disputes between all peoples, especially the descendants of the Abrahamic religions.”