{"id":7755,"date":"2004-10-17T17:25:36","date_gmt":"2004-10-17T21:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7755"},"modified":"2019-01-10T10:27:52","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T14:27:52","slug":"house-blessings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7755","title":{"rendered":"House Blessings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hinduism\u2014Shivalee Babani <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shivalee came to the United States from India in 2001 and recently purchased a house here. She showed us pictures from the griha pravesh (house-warming ceremony) that she held to safeguard her home and keep it a place of harmony and peace. She explained that at a griha pravesh, a priest invites the gods to be part of the home. Included in the ritual are various items\u2014a coconut, a pot filled with water, nine piles of rice\u2014that have symbolic significance based on Hindu scripture. Finally comes a ceremony of fire to remove negative vibrations from the house, prevent harmful planetary influences from entering it, and create a peaceful environment within it. The priest is then offered a feast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only after all rituals are completed, as set forth in the scripture,\nshould you consider living in a house. If this is not done, troubles or\nmiseries may come to the dwellers. Hindus believe that purchasing and moving\ninto a new house, like any major step in life, require proper prayer and\nceremony for a peaceful life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islam\u2014Danya Wellmon <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslim have no particular ritual for a new house, Danya said.\nFor everything that a Muslim does, however, there are supplications that\nactions be taken for good, not for evil, and that they be done in remembrance\nof God. Before purchasing a house, a Muslim would pray the Prayer of Decision\nfor guidance as to whether the purchase is good for him or her. When entering a\nnew home, Muslims give salaams, or  greetings,\nto convey a feeling of peace. It is traditional for Muslims to bring food or a\ngift when they go into any home for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christianity (Roman Catholic)\u2014Peggy Thompson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a tradition in the Catholic faith of not just making\npeople holy, but also making places and objects holy. It was important to Peggy\nwhen she bought her new house that she make it a place where God was welcome.\nShe wanted it blessed not only by God but also by her friends. Because she\ncomes from a Jewish tradition, she installed a mezuzah (see \u201cJudaism\u201d below) by\nher front door as a way of welcoming her Jewish relatives. Shortly after moving\nin, she had a house blessing, which was a mass celebrated by a friend of hers, a\npriest; several other friends also took part. She used as the centerpiece of\nthis mass the candle that had been present at her baptism. She also used wine\nthat she had purchased in Israel. Later she held a women\u2019s prayer ritual in the\nhouse. Sometimes a house blessing in the Catholic tradition involves sprinkling\nholy water in each of the rooms. Peggy sees the blessing of a home as an\nongoing process, as the home continues to be blessed by experiences and\nfriends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shinto\u2014Nana Uetake <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nana is a graduate student from Kyoto, Japan. Nowadays, said Nana,\nJapan has no specific religion. People have their own ethics and values.\nNevertheless, Japanese people traditionally turn to Shinto for their house\nblessings and for other rituals and ceremonies. Shinto is as old as the history\nof the Japanese. The word Shinto <\/em>is used\nby the Japanese people as a general term referring to their worship of the\ndeities of heaven and earth. Shinto is not a religion that controls favors or\nbehavior according to doctrine or commandment; rather, it allows people to have\ndirect contact with deities through worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shinto \u201chouse blessing\u201d is actually a \u201cland blessing\u201d\nseeking permission from the deities to build a house on the deities\u2019 land. The\nnew homeowner puts bamboo on each corner of the land, then invites the deities\nto the land and serves them rice cakes and sake as a way of seeking their divine\nprotection against any disasters. The homeowner also involves the new neighbors\nand the carpenters in the house blessing in order to have good relations with\nthem. Nowadays, many people who hold a house blessing do so because they are\nadhering to custom, not because they understand the meaning behind the\nceremony. Nana said that she herself did not know its meaning until she did\nresearch in preparation for this talk. She also said that when Japanese people visit\nshrines, they bow and clap their hands together. Nana just learned through her\nresearch that a person does this to get the gods\u2019 attention, to let the gods\nknow that he or she has arrived! It is a communication tool for talking with\nthe gods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judaism\u2014Jeanette Powell<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeanette said that the basis for the Jewish house blessing is\nin the Torah. She read a section from Deuteronomy, chapter 6, which commands\nJews to hang the mezuzah as a reminder of God\u2019s presence: \u201cHear, O Israel, the Lord\nis our God, the Lord is One. You shall love God with all your heart, with all\nyour soul, and with all your might. \u2026 You shall inscribe [these words] upon the\ndoorposts of your house and upon your gates.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, a Jewish home has a mezuzah, which is a rolled parchment\ninscribed with that reading from the Torah. The mezuzah is inserted into a\nprotective, usually decorative case and is affixed to the right side (as one\nenters the house) of the doorpost, usually within 30 days of moving into the\nhouse. Mezuzahs are also placed on the doorpost of every other room in house, except\nfor the bathroom. (There is, however, a prayer to be recited upon leaving the\nbathroom.) The mezuzah is touched or kissed whenever one enters or leaves the house\nor the room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The house blessing is not a one-time event. The installation\nof the mezuzah, which is accompanied by a prayer, is the start of an ongoing\nprocess. It signifies the keeping of a Jewish home, including the ceremonies\nand celebrations of all the holidays, especially the observance of the Sabbath.\nThe emphasis is upon creating a holy atmosphere in the Jewish home, imparting the\nteachings of the Torah to the children and the rest of the family, and practicing\na life of holiness and value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presentations were followed by a sharing of stories and by\nquestions from members of the audience. One of the questions to Nana concerned\nthe significance of the bamboo used in the land blessing. After the meeting, Nana\ndid some research and e-mailed the following explanation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bamboo grows rapid and straight, so that it has become the\nsymbol of vitality. Besides, since it was material for bows and arrows that\nwere traditionally used against evil, people believe that bamboo has a special\nholy power. That is the most widely held theory of why we use bamboo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We learned about Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Shinto practices of house blessings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15,22,16,17,41],"class_list":["post-7755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programs","tag-christianity","tag-hinduism","tag-islam","tag-judaism","tag-spiritual-practices",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7755"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8513,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7755\/revisions\/8513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}