York Twinning Association open house set for Jan. 7

Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record
·1 min read

The York Twinning Association will hold its annual 12th Night Holiday Tour Sunday, Jan. 7, from 1 to 5 p.m.

The organization's biggest fundraiser of the year will provide funding for cultural activities throughout the year, to support exchange programs with Arles, France and Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany, and to provide scholarship money for York County students who participate in YTA exchanges, according to a press release.

This year the tour includes the Box Hill Mansion, a home near York College with an extensive collection of nativity sets from around the world, The York Water Company building on East Market Street with beautiful paintings and gold-gilded ceiling, and The York History Center museum.

In addition, artists from York Art Association will be displaying their works at Box Hill and The History Center. Music will be provided by students from Spring Grove Area High School.

A nativity from Burkina Faso, one of 160 collected over decades from all corners of the world, will be on display during the York Twinning Association open house tour Jan. 7.
A nativity from Burkina Faso, one of 160 collected over decades from all corners of the world, will be on display during the York Twinning Association open house tour Jan. 7.

According to the organization's history: During World War II, an imprisoned Frenchman named Jean Marie Bressand founded an organization called Le Monde Bilingue — Bilingual World. He believed that future wars could be prevented if people of different cities and countries would meet and form friendships. To further promote this idea his organization actively sought cities from around the world to be “twinned” with each other.

The cities were formally “twinned” in 1954. Today York-Arles is the world’s oldest continuous sister-city program.

A French Santons collection, on tour at Box Hill Mansion, is a nativity scene that includes the traditional figures, but also the picturesque inhabitants of French Provence. Each has a product of his labor as a gift for the new-born child.
A French Santons collection, on tour at Box Hill Mansion, is a nativity scene that includes the traditional figures, but also the picturesque inhabitants of French Provence. Each has a product of his labor as a gift for the new-born child.

An official YTA 12th Night Holiday Tour ticket is required to visit the various locations on the tour. Tickets may be purchased the day of the event at Box Hill Mansion at 1501 Copper Beech Dr., York, Pa.

For more information about the event and current weather updates visit yorktwinning.com.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: York PA Twinning Association open house set for Jan. 7