I wanted to give you some background information on the opening scenes of DeLillo's Mao II. The mass wedding narrated as the book begins is based on the real-life collective marriage ceremonies performed by Revered Sun Myung Moon. Moon founded the Unification Church in Korea and it has spread to a number of nations and now has over a million members. The Unification Church is often thought of as a cult and as an example of alternative religion that offers its followers a (sometimes problematic) means of losing their identity is the collective. Moon's followers are most commonly called "Moonies." Below, please find a photo of a mass wedding ceremony and some helpful links to understanding the beginning scenes of DeLillo's novel. On the sidebar of the blog, you'll see some more general links about DeLillo that might be helpful, as well.For more info, check out this mass wedding article from BBC and the Wiki on the Unification church.
Did any of you know that Sun Myung Moon is also the FOUNDER of the Washington Times?
ReplyDeleteI'm wouldn't exactly consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but it does seem quite alarming that thousands of Americans are receiving conservative daily news from a paper headed by a Korean political/social/religious leader. After all, this guy refers to himself as the "Second Messiah". I'm weirded out...
It is weird to think about that kind of melding of religion and politics! Thanks for posting the info about the Washington Times link.
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