Today is Missionary Day, a public holiday in French Polynesia. It commemorates the arrival of the Christian missionaries on this day in 1797.
French Polynesia, the only overseas country of France, is a collection of over 100 islands and atolls in the South Pacific Ocean. Its remote location means it was one of the last places on Earth to become inhabited by humans. The first inhabitants arrived from Western Polynesia in about 200 AD. The islands were sighted by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.
In March 1797, Protestant missionaries from the London Missionary Society (LMS) arrived, establishing a permanent presence in Polynesia. The LMS had been formed a few years earlier with the intention of spreading Christianity across the world.
The ‘Duff’ arrived in Matavai Bay, Tahiti on March 5th 1797, with seventeen missionaries who intended to build friendships with the locals, build a mission house for sleeping and worship, and learn the native language. The missionaries faced initial resistance from the locals who had seen the arrival of earlier European ships bring new and unknown diseases to the islands. Eight of the seventeen missionaries left when the next British ship arrived in Tahiti.
The ones that stayed eventually had success in converting the locals including Pomare II, the king of Tahiti, who was converted from traditional beliefs to the Reformed tradition. This conversion formed the basis for the Maohi Protestant Church which is the largest in French Polynesia with followers accounting for more than half the population.
The missionary ship “Duff” arriving at Tahiti in 1797. Image via National Library of New Zealand
Purity test…
BADA BING!!!
I woke up to my six-year-old holding my hand this morning. It was such a sweet 3 seconds until I realized he was using my fingerprint to break into my phone.
Stop saying, “They didn’t teach us that in school.” Yes, they did. You were talking.
Just once I’d like someone to call me “sir” without adding “You need to calm down or we’ll have to ask you to leave.”
Just bought a sweet car online. Previously owned by Neil Diamond.
We shouldn’t be asking if an egg is a person. We should be asking why a person would live in Alabama.
A man left his bicycle right next to the entrance to the US Congress. Security shows up and says, “You can’t leave that here! Congressmen and Senators use this entrance” “Don’t worry, I’m using a bike lock”
What’s Irish and stays out all night? Paddy O’Furniture.
I can always tell when movies don’t use real dinosaurs.
I was trying to think of a good tree pun, but I’m stumped.
What do you call a wreath of hundred-dollar bills? A wreath of Franklins.
How many Freudian psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to change the bulb and the other to hold the penis, I mean ladder!
I realized I’ve got a problem with road rage when my five-year-old daughter shouted, “Pick a fucking lane you dickhead!” And we were in the grocery store.
I bought my wife a coat made of hamster fur. Took her to the carnival and couldn’t get her off the Ferris Wheel for three hours.
Today is the birthday, in 1951, of English singer and actress Elaine Page, best known for her work in musical theatre. Paige played Eva Perón in the first production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita in 1978 which for this role won the Laurence Olivier Award for Performance of the Year in a musical. She had the 1985 UK No.1 single with Barbara Dickson from the musical Chess ‘I Know Him So Well’. Here she is with her famous hit from ‘Cats’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdBVJbzkoqo
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