Way back when, Pioneer Day used to be closely linked to Joseph Smith. The Mormon Exodus was closely tied in the Mormon mind with the muder of Joseph and Hyrum, and July 24th was an opprotunity to wave the bloody shirt and remind Mormons not to get too comfortable with America. For example, the Nuavoo Legion used to march through down town Salt Lake carrying a painted banner showing Joseph Smith in his temple robes. The banner is still in the Church collections.

Regarding outsiders, is it really appropriate to figure out how to best inculcate and celebrate the faith by reference to the amount of “flak” we might receive?

Regarding insiders, do you really think it would be so difficult to theologically preserve the distinction between honoring and worshipping, between celebrating and invoking?

And Pioneer Day does?

I’m not talking about a “holy day” (though in some ways I think it would be a good thing if we had some). I’m talking about a Mormon holiday: similar, but not exactly the same. What’s wrong with that?

1) Why should Mormons celebrate Christmas? We know the pagan origins and elements of the holiday. We know Jesus wasn’t born on December 25. By the time Christians began celebrating Christ’s birth in meaningful numbers, they were well on their way to apostasy. So why hang on to an apostate holy day?

2) I don’t mean to suggest that there’s anything wrong with commemorating Jesus’ birth. But wouldn’t it make more sense to do so on, say, the date of His birth? As Mormons have traditionally believed that to be April 6–a date that also has enormous significance as a founding moment of the modern Church–shouldn’t we celebrate then?

3) What about December 23? It’s close to Christmas, of course. Scandalously close. “Outsider” reaction would be quite predictable. So what? “Outsiders”–the vast majority of whom never make the least effort to inform themselves–already maintain all sorts of false and ridiculous perceptions about who we are and what we believe. How would celebrating Joseph Smith’s birth change that? (Even if it did provoke new reactions, that would mean more missionary opportunities.) As for “insider” dangers, I’m not terribly concerned. If we can sing “Hail to the Prophet” without lapsing into idolatry, I think we can manage commemorating the guy’s birthday.

4) Martyr’s Day–June 27. While I wouldn’t mind celebrating Smith’s birth, I think it makes more sense to commemorate his death–the sealing of his testimony with blood. The day needn’t be confined to the Smith brothers, but all martyrs of this dispensation.

Scott

Well, as you can imagine, I’m a big fan of Christmas, complete with its pagan and “apostate” heritage. I think there are numerous important goods–spiritual, artistic, civic, cultural–associated with the day which are not transferable to another date, however strongly we might insist on April 6th. As for Martyr’s Day, I like that idea a lot: maybe more than Smith’s birthday. It’d fit in nicely with my “Smith ‘passion’ plays” idea as well; I could see the development of a lot of historical lessons and dramas and songs, all centering around the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith (and, as you say, by extension, all those others murdered for their faith in the early day’s of this dispensation).

hmmm. i dunno. but the kids would love it. remember when you were young, in grade school and all the muslim and jewish kids had these cool holidays when you had to be in school? then they got to celebrate all of the christian holidays, too?

that’s what having our own holiday is all about: expanding our religious rights and making the neighbor kids jealous.

as for how we actually celebrate it, i suggest something like how most people currently celebrate president’s day: sleep in and be lazy! at night, one might perhaps sit down with the family for a meal featuring traditional mormon foods such as jello and funeral potatoes. light on the ritual! heavy ritual made peter priesthood a dull boy!

now, i don’t mean to be too lighthearted about this. i am in awe of the amazing events of the restoration and grateful for joseph smith’s mission. and celebrating the holiday would be cool. just, there are some humorous implications.

At a certain point this worrying about being different which started in the 1890’s but really became strong from the 70’s on, will reverse. I have no idea what we’ll focus in on. But I recall even in my youth a tendency to not believe something just because Evangelical Protestants did. (Robert Millet discusses this in his work on Grace) I think that tendency incorrect, obviously. But it does highlight the changes that really became dominant in the 90’s. I think it was a good thing to do, btw. I even think the Olympics was a good idea from a religious perspective. But eventually other things will become important.

I also recall various prophecies about Missionary work and the idea that we’d become strong in most regions of the world but that missionary work would someday falter as well.

On the other hand, how many nonmembers would investigate the church because of an interesting (and non-threatening) holiday they’ve never heard of that (if they were a member) would give them one more excuse to miss work? Missionary potential, right there…