Hill Cumorah Pageant
Every year in July, The Mormon Church performs one of the largest outdoor pageants in the United States. The pageant takes place on a large hill in New York. This hill has great significance because it is the hill where in about A.D. 420 the gold plates were buried. Moroni, who was the last survivor of a civilization that had existed since 600 B.C. buried the plates, and then returned in 1827 as a heavenly messenger and gave them to Joseph Smith. From the gold plates, the Prophet Joseph Smith was able to translate the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
The pageant tells the story of the people of the Book of Mormon, how they were guided to the Americas in about 600 B.C. and the events that followed. The show depicts all of the things that occurred just before and during Christ’s visit to the America’s. It is a wonderful representation of Christ’s divinity and mission.
The pageant is performed on a large ten level stage, uses a state of the art sound and lighting system which created the effects of both earthquakes and lightning, and includes 650 people in the cast.
The pageant had its beginnings in 1917 when a group of missionaries of the Church gathered for a conference to celebrate Pioneer Day (the day the Mormon Pioneers first entered the Salt Lake Valley). In 1934, the conference was moved to Cumorah Hill and in 1937 volunteers put on the first pageant. Since the beginning, the entire pageant has been put together by volunteers. Over the years, the pageant has been re-written a few times.
The pageant’s music, special effects and script was put together by some well-known people. Author Orson Scott Card wrote the current script. Eric Fielding designed the stages. The special effects were created by Rick Josephson, and the music was composed by Crawford Gates. The music was performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Salt Lake City Symphony and a children’s choir with over 100 members.
Admission and parking for the pageant are free, there is enough seating for 9,000 people and the pageant starts at 9:15 at night, but it is suggested you arrive about 45 minutes early.
Other Links:
- For more information about the Pageant, visit the official website.
- For information about other Mormon pageants see Telusplanet.net
