By Knut Holdhus
In preparation for Holy Day celebrations, large ad campaign is run in South Korean papers and on TV
In a speech delivered to leaders and members of the Family Federation gathered in Gapyeong, northeast of Seoul, 19th April 2024, Kwang-seok Song, the president of the South Korean branch, reported about a current campaign to promote Mother Moon as “Mother of Peace” in large media outlets in the country.
Full-page ads have been placed in large newspapers like the Chosun Ilbo (largest daily), Dong-a Ilbo (large daily), Joong-ang Ilbo (large daily), Hanguk Ilbo (liberal daily), Maeil Kyeongjae (finance daily), Hankyoreh (centre-left liberal daily), Hanguk Kyeongjae (finance daily), Kyeonghyang Shinmun (major daily), Munhwa Ilbo (daily), Seoul Kyeongjae (finance daily), Seoul Shinmun (oldest daily), Segye Ilbo (daily).
In addition, two 15-second ads are being shown 22 times a day on four TV channels from Monday 22nd April for one week. The two ads are being played in rotation and feature Mother Moon’s voice and a message introducing her as “Mother of Peace” with an accompanying picture of her memoirs with the same title. The ads also describe God as our “Heavenly Parent”, a concept that contains both the fatherly and motherly aspects of the Creator.
Another revolutionary concept packed into the 15-second slot, is what has been translated as “Only Begotten Daughter” in English, the Korean word 독생녀 (toksaengnyeo – may also be translated as “Firstborn Daughter” or “First Daughter”). It refers to an understanding of the Messianic mission as including the female, in the sense that Christ should have married 2,000 years ago. But that Holy Marriage could only be realized now, in our time.
The TV channels are TV Chosun (pay TV network), Channel A (nationwide generalist cable TV), MBN (cable TV network), and YTN (24-hour nationwide news channel).
The newspaper and TV ads are run as part of the programs making up what members refer to as “holy week” – a week-long celebration of what Mother Moon, Hak Ja Han, four years ago declared to be the most important Holy Day of the Family Federation – the anniversary of the Holy Wedding of Father and Mother Moon in 1960.
According to the Oriental lunar calendar, the historical marriage took place on the 16th day of the third month in 1960 – April 11 according to our Gregorian calendar. It is common in the Far East to calculate birthdays and anniversaries according to their lunar calendar.
Mother Moon, Hak Ja Han, made her declaration on 8th May 2020, and the first time the day was celebrated according to these new guidelines was therefore on 27th April 2021 – the day the 16th day of the 3rd month of the lunar calendar fell on in 2021. In 2024, it falls on 24th April.
In 2020, Mother Moon also said that two other of the movement’s Holy Days – Heavenly Parents’ Day and True Parents’ Day – will also be celebrated on the day she and Sun Myung Moon were blessed in marriage in 1960.
Father and Mother Moon‘s wedding signifies that they had accomplished what Adam and Eve, the original parents of humankind, could not. God‘s dream at the dawn of time was that the first man and woman would reach the required maturity to be blessed in marriage by God. Had that happened, God’s ideal of creation would not only have been realized on an individual level, but also by a couple. That would have represented the beginning of a family blessed by God, and as children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. came into the world, the ideal would have grown to include whole tribes and nations.
That is why the day when Adam and Eve should have been blessed in marriage was so important to God. The day would have signified the beginning of a Heavenly Kingdom here on earth.
Finally, in 1960, Father and Mother Moon were able to assume the positions that the first two humans were originally supposed to hold as True Parents of humanity.
For that reason, Hak Ja Han has now made the day the most important Holy Day. She says that this should have been the most important day for God in the original Garden of Eden, and that we must now also celebrate our Heavenly Parents’ Day and True Parents’ Day on this day.
