garybuss: I've attended Catholic weddings and many Catholic funerals including a couple that were High Masses at the Cathedral in Sioux Falls. As far as religious services, Catholic is my favorite. I'm extremely appreciative of my Catholic friends.
Me too. I must have some Catholic running in my blood somewhere. There is Orthodox for sure. The heavy rituals and chanting get me.
I have spent over 40 years being a religious tourist, in a way. I have attended services of everything from Ukranian Orhtodox to Native healing ceremonies.
The Ukranian Orthodox wedding I went to was over 2 hours long - they put my JWs sister's hour long service to shame. I was entranced - the bride and groom actually donned heavy crowns at one point and all the chanting and ritual was quite the performance - heavily scripted. I hardly understood a word of what was said and I almost passed out from the heat and the getting up and down kneeling for the prayers. The food and drink that followed was memorable.
A Ukranian Orthodox funeral from where I come from is an event that requires incredible stamina from all who are involved. I worked as a floral designer for several years and did the flowers for several.
The most outstanding experience came when an elderly Ukranian woman died. The entire family took over the funeral home for 10 days leading up to the funeral. The casket was open the entire time and they had a 24 hour watch - sometimes there was as many as 20 people in attendance, complete with babies crawling on the floor and order in pizza boxes scattered around the chapel.
It was the largest casket spray I have ever made, out of entirely red roses. The funeral director said that the church service was pure insantity - the service went on forever and ever, the family video taped the whole thing, there were candelabras with lit candles on each side of an open casket and when everybody filed past, weeping and kissing the grandmama, the lit candles would almost fall into the casket - the funeral directors had to grab the candelabras many times. It was a spectacle beyond spectacles.
And then...the old lady's son died the next week. And it all happened again. except half the time and half the participants. I guess they were all tired out. Including the funeral directors. They had just had time to get the carpets all cleaned in the funeral home and it was a relief that the second time around wasn't so bad. The funeral home tightened up their rules on family viewing after that.