Missionary Day 2023: Every year on Missionary Day, people in the mostly Christian northeastern state of Mizoram celebrate. It is the main city and the home of government. Before 1972, it was a part of Assam. After that, it became a Union Territory. On Mizoram Missionary Day, people remember the day that two Welsh Christian preachers came to the area. Yesterday was declared a public holiday by the state government, so all government offices and schools are closed today.
It is a Baptist Church of Mizoram church that holds meetings, worship, and prayers. People also get together for a feast on this day. Rev. J. H. Lorrain and Rev. F. W. Savidge came to Mizoram, which was then Lushai country. The Mizo people loved them and called them Pu Buanga and Sapupa, respectively. They came from Assam by boat on January 11, 1894, and spread Christianity.
When is Missionary Day?
“Missionary Day” is a public holiday in Mizoram on March 5, 1797. It’s a memorial to the first two Christian preachers who came to the area in 1894.
Missionary Day 2023: History
On March 5, 1797, the Duff brought British Protestant preachers from the London Missionary Society to Mahina, Tahiti. They arrived at Matavai Bay. Even though there were setbacks at the beginning, the LMS preachers were able to convert King Pōmare II. He then used the new faith to gain more power over the other chiefs on the island.
On May 16, 1819, the king was baptized, and then everyone else in the kingdom of Tahiti did too. The Pōmare Dynasty and other families from the nearby Society Islands helped spread Protestantism to the Tahitian people, who were big fans of it. Even after France took over Tahiti as a protectorate in 1843 and then became annexed in 1880, most of the people who lived there were still Protestant.
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Celebrations
In the Maohi Protestant Church, celebrations and church services are planned in the chapels. Folk shows, outdoor music, and other culturally important events happen around the holiday as well. The landing of the first missionaries in 1797 is re-enacted every year at the Willy Bambridge Stadium complex in Papeete, Tahiti, and on Moorea’s Afareaitu.
During the holiday, people in the commune of Arue honour the first Christian king, Pōmare II, and the missionary Henry Nott, who helped translate the Bible into Tahitian. They do this by putting flowers on their graves.
Missionary Day 2023: Facts
- In 1974, Missionary Day was first celebrated by the Presbyterian Church in Mizoram. Eventually, the state government made it a national holiday.
- People from nearby ethnic groups often call the people who live in the Mizo Hills “Crucis.”
- Before the British came, different Mizo groups lived in their own towns. They did slash and burn, which is another name for jhum farming.
- For this reason, these Welsh preachers helped start the Presbyterian Church in the northern part of Mizoram.
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