Laii Baptist Church hosts largest mass wedding
Source: Chronicle News Service
Senapati, December 05 2023:
With the festive season approaching, a mass wedding of 13 couples was held on Tuesday at Laii Baptist Church under the Poumai Naga Baptist Association (PNBA).
Reverend Th Loly Awuh, the church's local pastor, officiated the mass wedding.
Villagers said that it was one of the largest mass weddings in recent memory, despite the fact that there had been less mass weddings in the past.
According to a source from the Laii Baptist Church, the church council passed a resolution in the church council that a mass wedding will be held once a year in December, which was implemented in 2013 .
Some of the reasons given by the church council for making such a decision were to encourage holy marriage and discourage elopement without the knowledge of the parents, which is also against God s will, to support the weak minds who cannot face a large crowd alone, to reduce the burden of parents in arranging large weddings, and to save time organising weddings for different couples.
In recent times, a lavish wedding would incur enormous financial and material resources due to tradition or by standard.
Many couples blame their inability to organise a grand wedding forcing them to elope on their own.
Spending a large lot of money on a grand wedding has become a trend.
The church reportedly prepares all decorations inside the church, serves tea and snacks for all attendants during such a mass wedding.
The wedded couples are greeted by families and relatives after the wedding ceremony.
In the evening, there was a common entertainment programme.
Should such mass weddings be encouraged in the region to save time, energy and resources is a huge topic for everyone in the modern age.
The wedded couples who took the marriage oath on Tuesday were L Hravini & Th Kamila, P Somi & L Kaisa, S Markson & K Dapune, D Isaiah & Th Shanti, A Hopeson & Z Losa, K Happyson & Ashune, S Kahrii & P Pavihrii, S Peter & Ng Pheomila, P Thaolouni & K Savihrii, Th Mateso & H Pahriine, K Simeon & Ng Avavine, Ng Thaokholou & A Kholoune, and Alonso & Hrangaone.
It may be noted that Laii village is one of the largest villages among the Poumai Naga people and is located in the northernmost part of Manipur under Paomata block, Senapati district, approximately 83 kilometres from the Senapati district headquarters and around 43 kilometres from NH-2.Laii village borders Ukhrul district in the east and Phek district in Nagaland in the west.