People sometimes wonder why I love participating in
the Hill Cumorah Pageant so much. As I near the beginning of my fourth pageant
I decided to think through this idea myself. While I know I DO love it, what
exactly about it do I find so addictive?
1. The Community Feel:
I enjoy working together as a team for a common goal at pageant. In the largest
sense it seems a miracle that the cast of 700 can pull together the show in six
days. It is stunning to see 7,000 chairs set up in neat lines in a matter of
hours. But on a more direct scale it was thrilling to be a flag bearer in the
processional and to see all of our flags waving in precision to the trumpets.
Even small things like being on the assembly line at dinner or washing the
trays can be fun when there’s a sense of teamwork and togetherness. Our funnest
year yet was when we camped in Zion’s Camp adjacent to the performance area of
the Hill. Every evening we’d have Munch N’ Mingle right before bed which is
where snacks were served for all 350 people. Worker bees would make brownies,
or popcorn, or vegetables and dip, or Chex Mix appear on picnic tables under
the pavilion for all those camping there and we’d chat before crashing for the
night. Then we’d see “Mormon” head off to his camper across the path and
“Samuel the Lamanite” turn into his tent. It truly was a Zion, community feel.
2. A Huge Dose of the Spirit:
I never went to EFY as a teenager. I don’t even think they had it back then. I
did go to Youth Conference but that felt like it was more about the dances than
the inspirational speakers. Though I have been blessed to feel the spirit
strongly at different moments in my life—for instance during blessings, in the
temple, and communing with nature—participating in pageant has been the most
sustained fever-pitch experience I have ever had with feeling the spirit.
Frankly, that is addictive to me. One of my very favorite moments of pageant is
the last scene when Christ appears lit up at the top of the hill. On the very
front of the stage the character who plays Joseph Smith is saying through the
narration:
And now after the many
testimonies which have been given of Jesus Christ this is the testimony, last
of all, which we give of Him, that He lives. Listen to the words of Moroni
written in this book, “Remember what you have seen and heard for the time is
quickly coming when ye shall see me at the throne of God and the Lord will say
to you, ‘Did I not declare my words unto you that were written by this man?’
The Savior will return. Soon He will be here.
Then the Tabernacle Choir crescendos wildly singing
“Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess” while His white robes are
blowing in the breeze. The first year we were in it, 2008, Lily and I would
stand up at the half way point of the hill because Ken was in the Hall of the
Prophets and just before this narration Joseph Smith named the six prophets who
had been highlighted during the pageant with Moroni being one of them. The
spotlight would focus on them in their “famous” pose. For instance Samuel the
Lamanite has his large staff overhead. Ken stood over the large rock. Almost
the entire cast would be cleared off the hill by this point of the night and be
in the dressing rooms changing so the hill was quiet.
Lily was two and liked to see her dad in this finale
seen. We would stand right next to the stairs that “Jesus” would climb up climb
up in the dark and though we would see him from behind for this dramatic “The
Savior will return. Soon He will be here” it was incredibly dramatic to be so
close—some of the only ones up there. When he’d come down if Lily wasn’t being
shy he would touch her hand or head as he passed by. There’s something about
that. While he was playing a character the feelings were inspiring and so real
to me.
In 2009 I still had a desire to see this closing
scene but from the front this time. I would come through the trees and sit just
on the inside of the front curtain every night so I could see Christ on the
hill. This was one of the hardest things about being cast in the Joseph Smith
scene in 2010. I had to face outward toward the crowd while Joseph spoke and could
not look back at Jesus Christ on the hill. I’m looking forward to renewing my
vigil this year.
But back to my point: I like to feel the spirit at
pageant.
3. Making a Pilgrimage:
with the Sacred Grove being where the First Vision occurred and the Hill
Cumorah where the plates were buried and the Smith Log Home where the Angel
Moroni appeared and the Grandin Press where the Book of Mormon was printed,
coming to Palmyra is a pilgrimage. “a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of
religious devotion to pay homage.”
4. A Sense of Nostalgia:
Because my father was in the mission presidency that covered the Hill Cumorah
area in the late 60s, I grew up attending pageant every year—first with my family
and later with friends. In 1969 several of my siblings were members of the cast
and, so I’ve been told, President Harold B. Lee thought I was a cute baby and
asked to hold me before the show. I feel like my earliest memory of is when I
was about three and seeing the angel trumpeters light up at the top of the hill
at the very beginning of the show, desperately wishing I could be one of them
one day. One year as teenagers several of us from the ward came in the Burgi’s
Loctite van, watched the show from the lawn, and camped overnight. 1998 was the
first time we came as the Brady Family. Sam had his 8th birthday
right on the hill. This was the first time it really sunk into me that we could
apply to be in the cast but it took several applications and rejections before
we were accepted ten years later. Now we have had three great years in the
pageant. All of these experiences are melded together in my mind and enrich
each moment there.
It is now only a few
days away from being at the Hill again. I am thrilled and so grateful for this
fantastic experience. While it involves incredibly long hours, sore muscles,
hard work, hot days, and a sacrifice of time, there is nowhere in the world I
would rather be.
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