Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Religious Practices in Cohousing

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 9/30/2003 8:59 AM, "Jeanne Goodman" <GoodmanJ [at] jpcohousing.org> wrote:

> Some feel as though celebrating customs that are not your own disrespects
> the culture from which they come. For example, if no one in our group
> celebrates Kwanzaa as part of their own culture, but some members of the
> group would like to include Kwanzaa tributes during the season ... is it
> disrespectful? Is it arrogant to borrow from cultures not your own? Does it
> tarnish or insult the culture because your motives are different?

This issue goes right to the fundamental issues in cohousing.

1. Are our communities microcosms of the world as we think they should be or
are they reflections of the people who actually live in them?

Things get done when an individual or a small group decides to get them
done. Holidays are celebrated when someone wants them celebrated and is
willing to do the work required to "do" a celebration.

So in the end, I've come down to if you don¹t have a dedicated joyful person
to organize the event it will be sickly at best. All the good intentions in
the world will sink your ship.

2. When it comes to celebrations, what is an observance of tradition and
what is an affirmation of religious faith?

We had a Shabbat ceremony here one Friday and several people were very
uncomfortable with what they experienced as a religious service in our
midsst. Our dining room is in the center of the commonhouse so people have
to go through it to get mail, do the laundry, leave their units, take
children to the kids room, etc. One of our very observant Jewish members
remarked that it was not a religious ceremony -- just a joyful sharing of
the beginning of the Sabbath. Everyone was welcome!

We had a sanitized Christmas last year because it was seen as a religious
service. We ended up with no stars, no angels, no nativity related objects
(this one covers quite a few things), no Santa Clauses. Needless to say, it
was not Christmas. Everything was banned except the colors red and green and
candles. My family background is protestant but I don't view Christmas trees
or Easter eggs as a religious holidays, certainly not affirmations of faith.

Our Quaker contingent wanted to meet here and felt that their services were
not services since there were no religious trappings involved -- it was a
meeting like any other meeting. In the end it was just not a good space for
them but was that a service or not? Most (if not all) of our members would
have been comfortable with their "services."

Very hard questions.

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



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