Did Anybody Else Want to Crack Up...

[Mad Jax]

... the first time you saw 30 guys sitting in the ridiculous looking temple clothes, complete with Poppin Fresh hat? I had to draw on my military discipline to keep from snickering.

I know that humor is pretty subjective so I might be alone in this, but seeing three rows of guys in those seats in the celestial room wearing those absurd uniforms with complete deadpan expressions was an image I really wanted to bust a gut over. Plus I felt just as stupid wearing the same get up. I had to really do some mental gymnastics to consider this a divine ceremony, and not something one would see on Monty Python.

I'm quite possibly alone in this, but I'd even find it interesting to hear that nobody else thought it looked farcical.

Edit: I guess what I'm wondering is if anyone else had trouble taking it seriously, for this reason.

[LostGirl]

Yes, so very strange, and as a woman I loathe the female veils.

[crossmyheart]

I was in total shock. How could my mom and dad hold a straight face while talking to me in those get ups? The worst was seeing people from my ward keep straight faces too. People I seriously respected- how could they act so normal while looking like oompa loompas?

I knew right then it was a cult and took a long time to process it. But I was all in, getting ready for a mission. I attended weekly until I left for the MTC just to get comfortable with it. My mom was so proud.

[document]

I didn't crack up. I just saw it as liturgical garb.

HOWEVER, I did lose a friend during lunch a few years ago. They made fun of a Bishop's Mitre (pointy hat), called it stupid, and I busted out laughing. I can't recall exactly what I said but it was along the lines of, "How can a pointy hat be so stupid when an apron and a flat hat is not?"

[Mad Jax]

Well thank goodness I'm not completely alone. I felt so strange looking at them and thinking "they don't see anything odd about this imagery" and wondering if I just couldn't quite my mind or something. I did keep it internal, but I just couldn't think it looked "celestial" in any way. The oompa loompa comment hits the nail on the head.

[Palerider]

I didn't crack up. I just saw it as liturgical garb.

HOWEVER, I did lose a friend during lunch a few years ago. They made fun of a Bishop's Mitre (pointy hat), called it stupid, and I busted out laughing. I can't recall exactly what I said but it was along the lines of, "How can a pointy hat be so stupid when an apron and a flat hat is not?"

Whoa.....you nearly committed the unpardonable sin!

First, you were SO logical. Then you actually came close to making fun of something that is Soooo sacred that it can hardly be mentioned outside of the temple. I'm surprised your friend didn't whack you as they walked away.

The takeaway here is an old saying......"It all depends on whose ox is being gored" as to whether something is humorous or not.

[Palerider]

accidental double post

[Red Ryder]

One of the last times I went before giving up the TR was with my brother in law. We have a tendency to make each other laugh at everything.

There was a really big heavy guy about 450lbs. When he put on the green apron it looked like a post it note on the back side of a white elephant. We giggled and snickered until our eyes were tearing up and biting our knuckles. We got called up to the veil curtain at the same time and when asked the new name he mutters out "Eli" and I nearly lost it.

Why can't they change the thing so you can sit next to your wife?

[Hagoth]

When I saw my dad and brother wearing the full uniform I had to literally suck in my cheeks and bit them to keep from laughing. And then afterward, if your hat is on the tight side, the elastic band leaves an impression so people coming out look like they have had a lobotomy.

[wtfluff]

Why can't they change the thing so you can sit next to your wife?

Well. Once upon a time, there was at least one room in the Oakland temple where it was actually possible to sit next to your sweetie. The room I saw, all the seats were together with a rope dividing the sexes, so if you timed it right, you could hold hands "across the rope".

I'm sure they've remodeled that since I visited. We can't have anyone even slightly enjoying the mormon LARPing eh?

[MoPag]

My best friend showed me her husband's hat before I went through. She aid she knew I'd laugh if I saw it for the first time in the temple. She was right.

I didn't crack up. I just saw it as liturgical garb.

The thing is, liturgical garb isn't a part of the Mormon experience outside of the temple. So I think it kind of throws people for a loop.

[Linked]

I remember walking toward the stairs to go up to the endowment room and seeing this Polynesian couple coming down the stairs in full garb and thinking it was weird. But I was so nervous about the ordinances that I couldn't think about it much. And then I was socially pressured into eternal covenants and I just wanted to make sure I did everything right and wasn't the last person to sit down. And then it became normal. There was just one short moment of reaction for me.

[w2mz]

Why can't they change the thing so you can sit next to your wife?

Well. Once upon a time, there was at least one room in the Oakland temple where it was actually possible to sit next to your sweetie. The room I saw, all the seats were together with a rope dividing the sexes, so if you timed it right, you could hold hands "across the rope".

I'm sure they've remodeled that since I visited. We can't have anyone even slightly enjoying the mormon LARPing eh?

One time, lots of years ago, DW and I did a session in the D.C. temple and the seating was like this as well. It's the only time I've got to sit by my wife during an endowment. It seemed pretty cool, and I often wondered why it wasn't like that by default in all temples. I mean, why can't you sit by the person you're sealed to in god's own house?

Now I realize it's because *ult.

[Corsair]

Yes, I probably would have laughed the first time I saw my normally stoic father in that outfit. Luckily, I was still processing the shock of the whole experience since any deviation from worshipful acceptance might jeopardize going on a mission at that point.

[Emower]

When the ceremony said to raise your hand if you didn't want to make the covenants that were coming up I raised my hand slowly. I didn't know what was coming up and it made it seem so serious if I broke the covenants. They hadn't told me what those covenants were so how could I promise not to break them!? Anyway, as I was raising my hand I looked over at my Dad, who was rubbernecking, and I thought (well if Dad has done this, and all of my ancestors have done this it cant be too bad." I put my hand back down. So the apron was weird, but when we put on the robes and I looked around at everyone in their hat, I thought "Oh man, I really wish I would have raised my hand because this is feeling cultish."
That went right up there on the shelf and I continued to live my Mormon life.

[MerrieMiss]

My best friend showed me her husband's hat before I went through. She aid she knew I'd laugh if I saw it for the first time in the temple. She was right.

I didn't crack up. I just saw it as liturgical garb.

The thing is, liturgical garb isn't a part of the Mormon experience outside of the temple. So I think it kind of throws people for a loop.

Mormons make such a big deal about not being liturgical- and priding themselves in comparison to other churches because of it - I think there's a lot of lost respect for that kind of thing.

Every time I went I would have to stifle a laugh when I looked over at the men. I hate the veils, but I always thought, "Well, at least I don't have to wear that dumb hat."

I really thought I was a part of some prank the first time I went through. "Look what we got Merrie Miss to do!" Since then, I've looked around during sacrament meeting and thought, "Huh. These people all do that weird stuff in the temple, but they act and look completely normal here. Weird." I have similar thoughts when I drive by the temple.

[Mad Jax]

I really thought I was a part of some prank the first time I went through.

IKR? I wonder if the first leadership to implement those specific clothes - whenever it happened - weren't just trolling. Like they were saying "just how far can we push the membership?" And then they came up with the dippiest looking outfit imaginable and made the women wear those veils.

[Just This Guy]

I was so shell shocked after some old guy getting way to close to feeling me up in initiatory that the robes seamed mild in comparison.

[LostMormon]

I too, fell into the category of being too shocked to find anything funny about it. I just keep thinking, what the heck have I gotten myself into. Seeing family members, and people from my ward chanting, and wearing weird clothes really freaked me out.

[Culper Jr.]

I was so shell shocked after some old guy getting way to close to feeling me up in initiatory that the robes seamed mild in comparison.

^^This!! My dad was my escort, and we were standing in the dressing room waiting for me to go through initiatory, and my uncle comes up and tells my dad, "they just pulled a fresh batch of cookies out in the cafeteria!" Dad turns to me and says, "be right back!" and takes off with my uncle. Evidently the Washington D.C. temple had really good baked goods in the cafeteria then. So I'm standing there by myself and this little old guy with a gravelly voice walks up and says, "put this on (shield) and make sure you're naked underneath!" I had no idea what an initiatory even was and I'm like WTF?!?! All I could think of during the initiatory (Dad was still gone getting cookies) was the question "WTH all are they going to touch? I mean they're blessing all my parts, are they going to bless THAT part too?!?" I was still in shock when it came time for the temple clothes... I didn't care what they looked like, I was just glad to have some on!