통일교 3500쌍 합동 결혼식 - 2013. 2. 17.
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2013.02.21 23:54
“Thousands of Unification Church members got married in a mass wedding in South Korea Sunday – the first since the death of their “messiah” and controversial church founder Sun Myung Moon.
Some 3,500 identically-dressed couples – many of mixed nationality who had met just days before – took part in the ceremony at the church's global headquarters in Gapyeong, east of the capital Seoul. Mass weddings, some held in giant sports stadia with tens of thousands of couples, have long been a signature feature of the church and one that “Moonie” critics have pointed to as evidence of cult underpinnings.
Sunday's event carried a special resonance, with Moon's 70-year-old widow Hak Ja Han presiding for the first time without her husband who died five months ago, aged 92, of complications from pneumonia.
The church's mass weddings began in the early 1960s. At first, they involved just a few dozen couples but the numbers mushroomed over the years. In 1997, 30,000 couples tied the knot in Washington, and two years later around 21,000 filled the Olympic Stadium in Seoul.
Nearly all were personally matched by Moon, who taught that romantic love led to sexual promiscuity, mismatched couples and dysfunctional societies.
Many were married just hours after meeting for the first time, and Moon's preference for cross-cultural, international marriages meant that they often shared no common language.
In recent years, matchmaking responsibilities have shifted towards parents, but 400 of the church members married on Sunday had chosen to be paired off a few days before at an “engagement ceremony” presided over by Moon's widow”. – AFP
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Some 3,500 identically-dressed couples – many of mixed nationality who had met just days before – took part in the ceremony at the church's global headquarters in Gapyeong, east of the capital Seoul. Mass weddings, some held in giant sports stadia with tens of thousands of couples, have long been a signature feature of the church and one that “Moonie” critics have pointed to as evidence of cult underpinnings.
Sunday's event carried a special resonance, with Moon's 70-year-old widow Hak Ja Han presiding for the first time without her husband who died five months ago, aged 92, of complications from pneumonia.
The church's mass weddings began in the early 1960s. At first, they involved just a few dozen couples but the numbers mushroomed over the years. In 1997, 30,000 couples tied the knot in Washington, and two years later around 21,000 filled the Olympic Stadium in Seoul.
Nearly all were personally matched by Moon, who taught that romantic love led to sexual promiscuity, mismatched couples and dysfunctional societies.
Many were married just hours after meeting for the first time, and Moon's preference for cross-cultural, international marriages meant that they often shared no common language.
In recent years, matchmaking responsibilities have shifted towards parents, but 400 of the church members married on Sunday had chosen to be paired off a few days before at an “engagement ceremony” presided over by Moon's widow”. – AFP
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Couples from around the world participate in a mass wedding ceremony at the CheongShim Peace World Center in Gapyeong, South Korea, February 17, 2013. (Photo by Lee Jin-man/Associated Press)
