A Holy Marriage that gave humankind True Parents
1960, the year Sun Myung Moon turned 40 and entered into Holy Marriage, became a turning point, not only for the movement, but for God’s thousands of years long restoration work and for humanity. On 27th March that year, a young woman, Hak Ja Han, was chosen to be the “Bride of the Lamb”. She had a solid spiritual background and had always lived a pious life. On 11th April, the Holy Marriage, the Marriage of the Lamb, took place (According to the Oriental lunar calendar, the date was the 16th day of the 3rd month).
The ceremony began at 10 am in the main hall of the headquarters in Seoul. The hall was completely packed with 700 members present from all over the country. The ceremony consisted of two parts. First of all, Sun Myung Moon blessed the room with holy salt.
The first part of the wedding was the “Ceremony for the Parents resurrected by making amends”. The members stood along the aisle as the bride and groom entered arm in arm. A choir sang “Song of the Banquet”, one of the holy songs from the early days of the movement. Mother Moon wore a white traditional Korean dress (hanbok), with a long wedding veil from her head together with bridal ornaments.
The aisle was covered in white cloth. They prayed together at the altar, and a proclamation was read. Weon-pil Kim (1928-2010) and Dal-ok Cheong (1920-2000) gave congratulatory messages. Kwang-yol Yoo read a poem he had written for the occasion. The bride and groom then left the room.
The second part of the wedding was the “Ceremony for the Parents of Glory”. The bride and groom re-entered the hall. This time the bride and groom wore a traditional Korean style dress, he a blue silk hanbok, a square belt and black hat, she a Korean royal dress with a bridal headpiece.
They gave their promises to God, humanity and each other. Both went down on their knees three times in front of the other and bowed their head until it touched the floor. This is an expression of deep respect.
Bride and groom presented gifts to each other and again bowed themselves to the ground for each other. Gifts were given to the bride and groom from the members. Finally, Father Moon read a declaration before he and his wife stretched out their arms towards the congregation and prayed for God‘s blessing on everyone. That concluded the ceremony.
According to revelations received from Heaven, an offering table was made with 40 kinds of food arranged in cylindrical columns. Everyone shared a meal together, and afterwards there were celebrations in the same hall. A definite highlight was Father and Mother Moon dancing together, while everyone was cheering.
Father Moon remarked that because of this monumental ceremony the Unification Principles and the Unification Church would become known throughout the world. After the Marriage of the Lamb, Sun Myung Moon was no longer just an individual Savior, as Jesus was. For the first time in history, humanity had received True Parents! A milestone had been reached in the long journey God had taken to restore the lost ideal.
“Holy Marriage in 1960” – text: Knut Holdhus
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