Evangelical Day

"Hari Raya Masuk Injil" is celebrated February 5th in Papua to commemorate the coming of Protestant Christianity to the province. Or, as I have also heard it put, the day the "Gospel entered Papua", or "Papuan Peace Day"!

I have always seen Christianity as an external entity in Papua... knowing that it was introduced here by foreign missionaries, however, having spent a considerable amount of time here, I really believe that Christianity is truly Papuan... they have certainly embraced it, and made it their own! I have been told that Christianity is seen as an agent of peace - that before "the gospel came to Papua", it was a land rife with violence due to warring between local tribal.

The island where this event occurred is called Mansinam, and is just off the coast of Monokwari, on the north coast of Papua -- it is here that German missionaries (Carel William Otto and Johan Gotlob) first landed in 1855! Apparently every five years a descendant from the missionaries' family actually returns to Papua to attend a special event... and this is that year!