I hope I can get to that happy place! Being raised Catholic I always feel like if I complain too much i'm going to bring something bad onto myself. I don't follow Catholicism anymore but there are things still ingrained in my psyche.

I'm glad I can at least help you prepare! It's all been a dang shock to me! All I ever heard was rainbows and unicorns.

I feel you. Catholicism scarred me in so many ways. It's insane what religion can do to you.

Rainbows and unicorns?! What did people tell you?! Shameless liars, lol! I read and watch so many pregnancy and parenting related stuff I'm sometimes overwhelmed with all the information xD

memoriam; xD;; that is sooooooo true lol.

never been religious. my mom is buddhist but we go to temple like.....3 times a year looooooool.

Well, I can't say I've ever been religious either XD But I used to sing in a church choir, just for the singing part. And I used to be forced (literally) to go to church every Sunday. Then to go on every mass for my grandfather's soul (or whatever sh*) and it was out of guilt, my grandma's manipulative But now I think she finally learned that I'm not gonna set my foot into any church ever again

Haaah, I should know everything about buddhism, ex indology student. I don't know sh*t I should re-learn for the philosophy exam though... I mean I know the history of the religion, even some most basic teachings, but for my exam, it's too little.
As a religion, I don't think buddhism requires as frequent visits in a temple as other religions do? But as I said, I don't know a thing about buddhism

Ugh - definitely just had an emergency nap! Sorry for the poof.

I've never been religious either but it was kind of forced on me as a child by my grandmother. I plan to show Elisabeth around but to let her choose. Neither myself or Alan are religious fanatics but I do think knowing and choosing on your own is very important.

Lol, Lily XD That's okay, you deserve all the naps of the world XD

And I'm exactly the same here Only my mom also tried to force me for a while, but she quickly gave up, realizing she was being a hypocrite I had to fight with grandma though, and she fought with the power of tears' manipulation My grandma is evil XD Well, I can't blame her for everything, not always we can choose what we become and be aware we need to change something about ourselves.
I talked with my bf multiple times about raising kids and religion. And we always agree that we can't force anything on them and that it would be best if they chose by themselves. Of course he wouldn't be himself if he didn't say things like "I would rather my son was gay than a catholic priest" or "if my son becomes a priest, I will disown him". I trust (or rather hope xD) he's not really serious when he says that. He also jokes that if he has more than one child, he would raise them in different religions, just for the fun of it XD

OMG different religions for all the kids? That's pretty funny but holy cow would that get confusing? :P

No Christmas for you, Hanukkah only! I'm sure there are other, better examples but I can't brain right now.

looooool i see.

well my mom has prayer beads (there's a set number of them but i'm not clear how many. 80? 180? it has 8 somewhere since the number 8 sounds like 'fortune' in Chinese) and there's some kind of prayer chant you're supposed to recite....//shrug

and the reason there are three days yearly that we go to temple are:

1. New Years Eve of the Lunar calendar (28th of January this year) - there's usually a night market on that day where you can purchase food and good luck charms for the new year, depending on which animal of the zodiac you are. This year is the year of the rooster so, depending on which animal you were born under will affect your luck (i'm dragon so my luck is supposed to be GREAT this year, while people who were born under the rooster are supposed to have TERRIBLE luck). Then, we get our first prayer of the year on/near midnight.

2. First prayer of the year - shortly after New Years, we go to temple again, this time bringing offerings of fruit, oil, flowers and sweets. The oil is for all the oil lights used to light the incense. We ask Buddha to bless us for the year, asking for good fortune and health and what-have-you.

3. Prayer of thanks - just a little bit BEFORE the next New Years Eve, we go BACK to the same temple from prayer #2 to give thanks for all the blessings and for protecting us through the year. We bring offerings as well. It's important that you go back to the SAME temple as from prayer 2 because that was the temple where you prayed to receive blessings.


any OTHER important temple visits would coincide with events such as deaths, weddings, a new child being born and such. although i'm sure that more devout Buddhists would visit a lot more than just for important events and dates.

Wow, that was very interesting and educational, thanks for sharing that

Also... Yaaay, I'm a rooster... and my bf too (same year).... yaaay I'll try to forget what you said abott he luck and not make any self-fufilling prophecies if you don't mind

Your religion sounds interesting, Hotarla. The only thing that was ever interesting to me about Catholicism was midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Otherwise it's so freaking dreary and guilt ridden. And no matter what you do you're goin to hell!