11 January 2024
Mizoram Regional holiday | Thursday |
Missionary Day is a regional holiday in Mizoram, India that commemorates the arrival of two Welsh Christian missionaries in the state over a century ago. This holiday is always celebrated on January 11th and is declared as a public holiday by the state government. Government offices and educational institutions will be closed on this day.
Rev J H Lorrain and Rev F W Savidge arrived in the then Lushai country (Mizoram) by boat from Assam on January 11th 1894 to spread Christianity in the region. This resulted in the conversion of almost all the Mizos to the new religion. The missionaries established the Presbyterian Church in the northern part of Mizoram and the Baptist Church in the southern part of the state. To mark the day, local churches will hold prayers and organise community feasts.
Earlier, the people of the Lushai Hills had raided British plantations in the lowlands to the south, and even when British India expanded to include their territory, they were only “loosely controlled”. But beginning with the 11 January 1894 expedition of these two Presbyterian missionaries, all of that began to change forever. The Presbyterian Church in Mizoram started celebrating Missionary Day in 1974, and the state government eventually made it a public holiday. Many attend special services on this day, especially in Presbyterian and Baptist churches, for prayer, worship of God, and remembrance of the blessings he sent through the arrival of the Gospel with Mizorams first two missionaries in 1894.