Mormon Traditions

Mormons are an extremely devout people, with over 90% professing belief in God or a supreme being, the Bible as scripture and life after death. Furthermore, most Mormons practice religious observance consistently, keeping a daily schedule of prayer and scripture study.

The church encourages its members to bury their dead within seven days after death, with those endowed in temple ceremonies (having participated in an endowment ceremony) being buried with special undergarment and white clothing.

Family Prayer

Mormon families take seriously the concept that prayer strengthens families. Families are encouraged to hold daily family prayer services alongside individual prayer sessions and scripture study; usually this happens first thing in the morning or before meals.

Mormons also hold that anyone can access an indication of truth regarding doctrine and religious ideas through prayer. According to Church doctrine, anyone can petition God for confirmation by praying with a sincere heart.

Mormons are taught to commit their lives for eternity in their marriages and families, which explains why Mormons have lower divorce rates than many other Americans.

Family Home Evening

Mormons place great emphasis on family, and strive to ensure it remains strong and balanced. As part of this belief system, they host weekly family nights on Monday nights which focus on strengthening family ties and gospel learning. Prioritization for this evening includes avoiding activities that conflict with it such as sports and school events.

Family home evenings typically include hymn singing, scripture reading and an engaging gospel or moral topic lesson taught by family members who take turns leading the music, sharing a prayer or leading the lesson. Following that, everyone participates in an activity together before concluding the evening with another prayer – providing a wonderful way to reinforce family values while creating a strong foundation for children’s religious and moral lives.

Baptism

Mormons consider baptism an essential step toward attaining full salvation and returning to live with God again. According to The Book of Mormon, baptism signifies entering into a covenant with the Lord to serve him until death.

Mormons also believe that if one fails to get baptized while alive, after death they can go into “spirit prison” where they can hear about the restored gospel and have deceased family members baptized as proxy by proxy in temple ceremonies (one reason they love genealogy so much). Their doctrine of baptism is intricately bound up with membership into God’s new covenant people of God and church membership.

Endowment

Mormons in the modern LDS Church attend endowment rites at temple. This two-part ceremony serves to prepare them to become kings, queens, priests, and priestesses in the afterlife and includes scripted reenactment of Adam and Eve’s creation and fall, washings, anointings, instruction in signs tokens keywords of holy priesthood (usually men prior to serving missions and women prior to marriage). Generally men receive their endowments before serving missions while women will get their endowments before marriage (usually before serving missions or marrying).

Wilford Woodruff modified the endowment ceremony in 1894 in order to reduce sealings of General Authorities and other Church members outside family lines (History of the Church 7 [1903]: 514-67). This form included an anointing ceremony which promised eternal marriage while also permitting couples acting as proxy for deceased partners.

Funerals

Mormon funerals reflect their church’s belief in an imminent resurrection and reunion between body and spirit. Although tears are part of any funeral ceremony, Mormon funerals tend to be more upbeat events that focus on celebrating life with joy and inspiration rather than mourning its passing away.

After the service, a brief graveside ceremony may take place whereby the gravesite is dedicated by either Melchizedek Priesthood holders or family members. A reception called “mercy meal” then takes place for guests – typically featuring dishes such as funeral potatoes and Jell-O salad.

At funeral events, an LDS bishop typically speaks and leads prayers and scripture readings, with other family members or friends often providing prepared eulogies.