1800 couples blessed in marriage 50 years ago in record-breaking event in indoor arena in Seoul
Father Moon and Mother Han sprinkling holy water on the 1800 couples as each couple passes between the True Parents. Photo: FFWPUToday, the many couples that took part in the Marriage Blessing of 1800 couples on 8th February 1975, can celebrate their 50th anniversary. It was what the Guinness Book of World Records then recorded as the largest mass wedding in history and was officiated by Reverend Sun Myung Moon (Father Moon) and his wife Hak Ja Han (Mother Han), founders of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, then called the Unification Church.
The location of the spectacular event was Jangchung Gymnasium, a large indoor arena – now famous for hosting professional volleyball league matches, but in the seventies also used for presidential inaugurations. The gymnasium can be found in a central part of Seoul called Jung-gu.
The 1800 couples – it was actually 1,816 – came from around the world, from 20 nations to be precise, including 892 couples from South Korea, 811 from Japan, 76 from the United States, 35 from European countries and two from the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The South Korean Minister of the Board of National Unification gave a congratulatory speech. More than 10,000 guests could watch the event. Straight afterwards, the couples boarded 94 sightseeing buses for a parade through the downtown streets of Seoul.
From the Marriage Blessing ceremony of the 1800 couples on 8th February 1975. Photo: FFWPUHal McKenzie (1948-2010), who had joined the movement in 1968 in Philadelphia, USA, participated in the large wedding ceremony with his Lynda (née Champion). He wrote on 11th February for the Unification Church publication “The Way of the World” in an article titled, “The Largest Wedding in Human History”,
“This international wedding underscored the teaching of the Unification Church that God transcends all national and racial barriers, and that the Kingdom of Heaven on earth can be built based on God-centered family units.
Rev. Moon pronounced the newlyweds ‘couples forever’ in […] the largest indoor hall in Korea, site of the church’s 777-couple wedding conducted in 1970. Ten thousand spectators and well-wishers watched as the couples marched in, two couples abreast, up a set of stairs leading to a platform where Rev. and Mrs. Moon sprinkled perfumed water on them as they walked past. Lined up in orderly rows, the couples completely packed the red-carpeted gymnasium floor.”
The record-breaking mass wedding ceremony symbolized international unity, world peace, and the establishment of “ideal families under God”. By emphasizing intercultural and interracial unions, such events promote global harmony. The 8th February 1975 event was part of the Family Federation’s larger mission to build a worldwide “family under God”.
Father Moon and Mother Han praying for all the couples at the Marriage Blessing ceremony of the 1800 couples on 8th February 1975. Photo: FFWPUAccording to Family Federation tenets, the marriage blessings help to restore humanity by creating families that invite God into their midst.
Many of the couples had been matched in advance by Father Moon himself, based on faith and spiritual guidance.
The 1800 couples Blessing of 1975 included international participants, marking the Family Federation‘s growing global outreach. It laid the foundation for even larger mass weddings in the 1980s and 1990s, with ceremonies involving tens of thousands of couples.
This event remains a landmark in the history of the Family Federation, symbolizing its vision of spiritual and social transformation through family values.
The True Parents blessed the 1,800 couples 15 years after their own Holy Wedding in 1960. The 1975 event opened the way to the movement’s international work. That same year about 300 members from those 1,800 couples travelled to 123 nations on foreign missions, laying the groundwork for the Family Federation’s current global presence. Father Moon said in a speech, “The 1,800 couples represent all humankind.” At the time of their marriage blessing, he stated, “We enter the age to embrace the world.”
Text: Knut Holdhus
Featured image above: The Marriage Blessing ceremony of the 1800 couples on 8th February 1975. Photo: FFWPU
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