Photos: 24,000 South Korean couples attend a mass wedding in Gapyeong
Updated On Sep 08, 2017 11:11 AM IST
Almost 24,000 couples took part in a mass wedding ceremony held by South Korea's controversial Unification Church in Gapyeong on Thursday. Followers of Sun Myung Moon, termed 'moonies' attended in person and over Skype from all over the world in this massive event.
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Thousands of Unification Church couples from around the world took part in a mass wedding on the occasion of the fifth death anniversary of its founder Sun Myung Moon, revered as a messiah by his followers at Cheongshim Peace World Centre in Gapyeong, South Korea on September 07, 2017. (Kim Hong-Ji / REUTERS)
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About 4,000 South Korean and foreign couples exchanged or reaffirmed marriage vows in the Unification Church's mass wedding arranged by Hak Ja Han Moon, wife of the late Sun Myung Moon, the controversial founder of the Unification Church. Moon died of complications from pneumonia in 2012 at the age of 92, leaving behind a church noted for its mass weddings and diverse business interests. (Ahn Young-joon / AP)
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A bride poses for a photo at a hotel the night before taking part in a mass wedding ceremony held by the unification church entitled a 'cosmic blessing ceremony', in Gapyeong. The mass weddings occurred at a ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of its founder Sun Myung Moon’s death. In addition to those getting married in Gapyeong, 20,000 more couples took part in Thursday’s ceremony remotely by internet. (Ed Jones / AFP)
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Newlywed couples bow to Han Hak-ja, widow of Reverend Moon Sun-myung, during the mass wedding ceremony at Cheongshim Peace World Centre. During his lifetime, couples were often personally matched by Moon, who taught that romantic love led to sexual promiscuity, mismatched couples and dysfunctional societies. He often preferred cross-cultural marriages, arguing that in God’s eyes there were no such things as nationality or skin colour, and that such unions were a way to promote peace. (Kim Hong-Ji / REUTERS)
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Relatives take photographs of a newlywed couple before the mass wedding ceremony. At first the ceremonies involved just a few dozen couples but 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. (Kim Hong-Ji / REUTERS)
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A bride naps as newlywed couples attend the mass wedding ceremony on September 7, 2017. Escaping during the Korean War, Moon founded the church in the South in 1954, proclaiming himself a messiah. The church now claims around three million members worldwide. (Kim Hong-Ji / REUTERS)
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The attendees sat in rows of white plastic chairs, some fidgeting while others took selfies showing off their wedding rings before giant posters of Moon. Its followers -- who refer to Moon as True Father and his widow as True Mother -- were dubbed ‘Moonies’ and critics accuse them of being a cult. ‘We pray that your sun will rise and the light of truth will evaporate all suffering from this earth,’ his daughter Sun Jin Moon told the event. (Ahn Young-joon / AP)
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A groom and brides wait for their partners before the mass wedding ceremony. In recent years, matchmaking responsibilities have shifted towards parents and the emergence of social media has made it easier for brides and grooms to ‘connect’ before their wedding. Vanessa from Singapore was introduced to her groom Ewald Schenkermayr, a 30-year-old from Austria, by her parents and kept in touch through emails and Skype conversations. (Kim Hong-Ji / REUTERS)
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Updated on Sep 08, 2017 11:11 AM IST