Peter’s Day, so called in honour of Peter Verigin and his planning of the Arm’s Burning of 1895, was celebrated at the Doukhobor Discovery Centre on June 27th. In 1895 the Doukhobors in Russia burned all of their weapons in a mass pacifist demonstration, declaring that they believed in Christ’s commandment of Thou Shalt Not Kill. This included the young men in the conscripted army who also turned in their weapons and uniforms and declared their resistance to all forms of violence. This action resulted in severe persecution, torture and exile which eventually led to the intervention of Lev Tolstoy, and resulted in their migration to Canada.

This day has been celebrated every year since 1895 and this was the 145th such celebration. It was a special day for the Doukhobor Discovery centre as it involved several presentations to the museum.

Larry Ewashen presented Peter Verigin’s watch to the archives of the centre, President of the society Bob Ewashen presented a well known painting of the Arms Burning to the centre and Touchstones Museum of Nelson presented Peter Verigin’s carriage.

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In all, this was one of the most successful Peter’s Day events in recent history.