Even if you do not know much about the Moonies Church, I am sure you’ve heard about their mass weddings which used to be officiated by its late leader-Sun Myung Moon.

Since Sun Myung Moon died in September 2012, the church have had only one mass wedding but it is this second one involving 2500 couples in South Korea that has made the headlines—once again.

After confirming under oath that they are virgins, the 2500 couples sprinkle holy water, recite vows pledging themselves to be faithful to each other and exchange rings and prayers.

It doesn’t end there,  the newlyweds must then go for at least 40 days without having sex.This period of abstinence is supposed to be an echo of Jesus’s 40 days and nights wandering the desert, where the Bible says he remained in the wilderness as the devil appeared to him and offered him a string of temptations, all of which he ignored.

The most worrying but intriguing part of the Moonies Church weddings is that,  couples  have in the past paired or wedded when they do not even speak the same language and cannot understand each other—but the Church has argued that, this is to promote unity of cultures and nations.