Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: share your policies on religious symbols in the common house

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Oct 18, 2013, at 8:18 AM, "Laura Fitch" <lfitch [at] krausfitch.com> wrote:

> I'd like to add a few items to our "useful documents" document (created for
> CohoUS and shared on the website).  We have nothing on religious symbols in
> common houses and I just got a question from someone about our own policy.  

We don't have a written policy and do have religious symbols in the CH during 
holidays. We had early objections to the Christmas tree but worked them out to 
a tree being up from a week before Christmas (counted from the Friday at least 
6 days before Christmas day) and taken down on New Year's Day.

We have menorahs up during Chanukah. A "grass topped" bldg large enough to seat 
8 in the piazza during sukkot. That's a week, I think. Next week we will have a 
celebration of an Indian religious holiday.

What has worked is having a person who takes responsibility for the 
decorations, both putting them up and taking them down, and that the holiday is 
festive. No one goes hysterical of a menorah is moved or the decorations on the 
tree are too religious or not religious enough. (Most of our are not at all.)

We have not done well with religious ceremonies and meetings. By religious 
ceremonies, I mean Friday night Shabbat (which not everyone thinks of as 
religious), Quaker meetings, or meditation groups. Mostly because people feel 
uncomfortable carrying on other activities while they are going on. They feel 
like interlopers or that they should tiptoe. 

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org