Mormon Miracle Pageant
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The Mormon Miracle Pageant is an annual outdoor theatrical performance held in Manti, Utah. It is produced with an amateur cast of over five hundred members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the LDS Church). The nightly re-enactment takes place on the south lawn of temple hill at the Manti Temple. The two-week pageant typically draws crowds of approximately 15,000 people per night over an eight-night performance.
The performance begins shortly after sunset, during the early summer (usually late June). People often start arriving several hours ahead of the beginning of the performance. In addition to restaurants in the town, there are special food stands for the event. Light security is provided at the performance site and the surrounding streets to ensure general order and direct traffic, though it has not typically been known to be needed (never any significant disorder). The pageant is, for Mormon believers, a faith-promoting family event.
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[edit] Content
The Mormon Miracle Pageant includes three separate but related faith-promoting dramatizations from the LDS perspective:
- The story from the Book of Mormon of the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus Christ to the native Israelite inhabitants of North America in the first century A.D., and other portions of said book.
- Experiences of the first LDS prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. during his young-adulthood in the burned-over district of New York in the 1820s including the recovery and translation of the Book of Mormon, the restoration of the "Church of Jesus Christ" in 1830 (which was renamed the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" in 1838) and its infancy, and the death of Smith in 1844.
- The journey of the Mormon pioneers who followed the LDS prophet Brigham Young to Utah, and the group of pioneers sent to central Utah (now Sanpete Valley) where the Manti Temple stands.
[edit] History
The pageant was first produced by the Manti Utah LDS stake in 1967 under the leadership of stake president Vernon Kunz. Helen and Morgan Dyreng of Manti directed the production. Although crude compared to the current pageant, that performance was still accompanied by a 25-piece orchestra. Members of that group included Richard Nibley (brother of Hugh Nibley), McLoyd Erickson, Harry A. Dean, and Evan Bean.
[edit] Pageant protestors
There are usually several evangelical Christian church groups (including some nationally-recognized evangelists) who attempt to evangelize the largely Mormon attendees prior to the nightly event. They typically attempt to hand out tracts and engage pageant-goers in religious discussion as they approach the site. Once the pageant begins, these critics generally disperse.
In addition, some local fundamentalist Mormon groups have been known to carry picket signs in the approach area, often criticizing the mainline Latter Day Saint church's position on polygamy and abortion. The LDS Church does not believe in the practice of polygamy or unrestricted abortion, but makes allowances for abortion (rape, incest, and endangerment of the mother's life) that some fundamentalist Mormons find objectionable.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The pageant page at the LDS Church website
- The unofficial but authoritative Mormon Miracle Pageant website
- Another pageant link
- The Manti Temple
- The Sanpete County website
- Manti’s ‘Miracle’, New Era, July 1978, page 18
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.mormonmiracle.org/information.html. Accessed 11 April 2006.
- ↑ Bean, Kent R. (2005). Policing the Borders of Identity at the Mormon Miracle Pageant. Doctoral Dissertation. Bowling Green State University.[3]
