The Hill Cumorah is known to the LDS religion as a sacred place. It is located in the state of New York near a town called Palmyra. Palmyra is where Joseph Smith lived for most of his youth. Palmyra is also the place of another sacred place to the LDS faith, the sacred grove, where Joseph saw God the father and Jesus Christ in a vision now known as "The First Vision".
The Hill Cumorah is a historical and sacred place because it is where Mormon buried, among other things, the record of his people almost two thousand years ago. It is also the place where in 1823, the Angel Moroni told Joseph smith, in a vision, to find the record of his people, also known as The Golden Plates. The Golden Plates were found by Joseph under what was said to be a substantially sized rock. Under the rock was a stone box that was buried in the ground. In the stone box Joseph found the Golden plates, the Urum and Thumum, (tools to help Joseph translate the plates), and a breast plate, which is described as a small plate that the Urum and Thumum would attach to in order to be used. Joseph Smith visited the hill Cumorah once a year for four years as directed by the Angel Moroni before he was allowed to take the plates and other inhabitants of the box. The Golden plates are significant because they held the record of the Angel Moroni's people and is now known as The Book of Mormon which was translated by Joseph Smith.
The LDS church purchased the land on which the hill Cumorah is located in 1928. Then, in 1935, the church erected a granite monument topped with a nine foot statue of the Angel Moroni at the highest point on the hill. The LDS church also puts on a pageant every summer there, where many stories from the book of Mormon and the story of the first vision and the story of Joseph Smith finding, receiving, and translating the Golden Plates into the Book of Mormon are played out in celebration of the true and living gospel.
This is a very interesting point about the book of Mormon. It seems in many ways associated to Christianity,just in the aspect that he was sent by an angel, to find this book, just as Mary was visited by an angel. One thing to note, some examples would be greatly appreciated as to who these people were that are listed in this book? Hence I have never studied the Mormon religion it would be interesting to know so I could better understand the purpose of this document.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. It's cool that you covered a sacred place with what our readings in the book are right now. Like the great medicine wheel for the native Americans, did the hill have any instances where promises of commercial profit almost destroyed this sacred place?
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with the Mormon religion, so this was a bit hard to follow. It would have been a great help if you had given more details, just to flesh out the story and help everyone understand. That being said, I DON'T know much about this religion, and this just taught me some more, so thanks for that!
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with Mormonism either, but it was definitely interesting having the opportunity to learn more about it. Your page is beautifully done, it would have been nice though to have a little more information or background on some of the references you made.
ReplyDeleteBeing LDS I already knew about Cumorah. I however didn't know about the pageantry that goes on once a year. When we were introduced to the topic of sacred places, it didn’t this location didn’t even come up in my head. Nice job of tying both a sacred place and what some may regard as mythology together. Ginny asks about more detail. If I could suggest you use the story of Moroni and why he buried the plates. This detail could help show more why it is so sacred.
ReplyDeleteThe only real exposure I had with Mormonism is when I was a young child. Our neighbors were Mormon, and it was interesting learning bits of their religion through them. Our family was Roman Catholic, but we never really openly practiced the religion. I blame that mostly in part of my father, who always seemed to be more of an agnostic than anything else, so my mother's religious ideals were always muted by his influence.
ReplyDeleteOf course, now that I live in Idaho, you'd think I would know a lot more about the Mormon religion, but alas, I have yet to make many Mormon friends, or any real close friends for that matter, so even when the acronym LDS was used multiple times in your blog, I actually had to look it up to find out what it stood for. Embarrassing, I know!
In any case, your blog told me so much more about the Mormon religion that I did not know about, and I'm glad for that. Thanks so much for creating this blog!
You've done a good job incorporating a relevant background and some beautiful pictures of both the plates and the place. Like you and Kyle, I'm also LDS, but I've never visited this site. I would like to, but just haven't been. What's interesting about the Hill Cumorah is that there are many such hills in North America but few have been excavated. Many people assume that the recorded history in the Book of Mormon is about the ancient inhabitants of just South America, but more and more people are coming around to the notion that it probably represents happenings in North America. Interesting blog - I'm glad you've got the hutzpah to share this sacred place publicly. :)
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