This article on the board reminded me of something I wrote many years ago and posted in about 2008.
Where was this kind of survey when we needed it??
http://www.sltrib.com/lifestyle/faith/2117286-155/lds-church-asking-mormons-for-inputSome of my garment stories! (I'd like to read yours!)
This is a little story of my first experience back in about 1963, following the proper care of used garments,otherwise known as: "How I nearly set BYU housing on fire."
We were all taught in the temple, as I recall when first learning about the garments and their care, that the "sacred markings" were to be cut out and burned and then they were just ordinary cloth and could be used as rags, etc. The Mormons were very frugal.
I had been a member a little over a year, married in the Logan temple and living at BYU in Wymount Married Student Housing when I noticed that my BIC hubby had old garments left over from his mission a few years back that were in terrible shape.
So, trying to do things "right" I decided to ask a neighbor-Molly Mormon how she disposed of the markings. She told me she cut them out and put them in a soup can and lit them on fire then threw away the ashes. Oh, great, I though, I can do that. No problem. Or so I thought.
So, after hubby left for classes, I got busy. I carefully cut out the markings of hubby's one piece cotton garments , some had the buttons up the front for ...err...ahh..well, you know.
I put a couple dozen of those snippets in a washed out soup can, and not wanting to draw attention, I decided not to go outside on our third floor balcony and light them on fire, so I put the can on our kitchen table, and lit the pieces on fire.
But, something went very wrong very fast and the flame got too high and the can became too hot to pick it up, so I threw water on it to put the fire out!I Then, opened all the doors and windows and tried to fan out the smoke. Oh my gosh! .I had nearly set our apt. in BYU housing on fire!
When hubby came home from classes at BYU, he noticed the ring on the table we had refinished before we got married and hauled to Utah from Oregon a few months earlier. I didn't want to admit, exactly, what happened, I just told him that I put something hot on it by mistake! He never did know what I had done! I was not about to tell him either. After all, I was a new convert, and how did I know things would go so bad trying to be righteous!
From then on, I flushed the cut out marks of the old garments down the toilet and we had a whole new set of rags! The ,men's cotton garments made excellent rags! I never could figure out what difference it made whether they had the markings in them or not - a rag was a rag!
Looking back, it appears that flushing the sacred markings down the toilet was symbolic of what was to come. The whole Mormon thing went down the "toilet" so to speak, eventually!
This toilet flushing technique continued for years, until I walked out of a temple in the mid 90's and took those silly things off for the last time. I had been controlled by underwear long enough!
I contemplated what to do with them for some time. Initially, I kept them in a dresser drawer, then I wanted them out of sight, so I put them in a large plastic grocery bag in the back of my clothes close until I decided that I never wanted to look at them again.
Then one day, a few years later, when I knew I was done with Mormonism and what those garments represented, (that was an arduous process!) I threw that big bag over my shoulder like Santa Clause, trouped out to the trash cans and threw the whole bag in one of them. Then I added household trash: nasty, dirty, smelly trash on top. Again, that was symbolic of how I viewed Mormonism !
Then I walked back into the house with a huge smile on my face, snickering under my breath as I thought about their route into the big trash truck,where they were crushed up with the rest of the dirty stinking trash, then dumped into the local landfill! Just thinking about it would keep me snickering for days! I had often watched, and heard those trucks, loudly crunching and compact the trash in front of my house.
Ahh..what a wonderful feeling! I had just rid my closet, and my life of any signs of the God of regulation underwear! First the sacred markings went in the toilet (fortunately, they were very tiny, I flushed often and they never clogged up the lines!) Then they went into a garbage can, a trash truck and a land fill. Perfect!
Before I got married:
The first ones ordered and sized by my relief society president at the time, in 1962, were nylon and were one size too small and I was stuck with them in Utah in 100 degree heat which I was not used to. We were on a very limited budget and I had to wait until I could make more money to buy more!
Those were the days when the unwritten understood rule was they were not to be taken off for much of anything, and they were to be worn for sex. They even made men's button-up and zip up garments in those days.
I saw a very large breasted woman at the distribution counter selling the garments and asked how she got the tops to fit and she said she "squished," meaning, of course, that the garment did not fit so she had to stuff her breasts in the top and into a bra.
Later:
The two piece garments were not made until the late 70's so the women were stuck with the one piece with the flap. Those were also the days of sanitary belts and sanitary napkins. Many Mormon women I knew would never even consider using a Tampon in those days!
When I wrote to complain about the sizing and the fit I got a letter from the man who ran Beehive Clothing that made it clear that they could not accommodate every one so they made just standard sizes. I wish I still had that letter. It was typical of the attitude the idea of the cookie cutter Mormon.
I tried to get the panty to fit snugly just like a regular panty, and they would never come to the knee. Also, some fabrics were better than others for fit The Bemberg-Rayon was the best.
Temple garments did not come in many sizes. Only a couple in each one -- nothing like what you can get in the regular stores. If you are a "junior" or a "woman's" size, they probably won't fit well.
If you wear a D cup or larger bra, the garment is wider, but the seam still hits the woman in the middle of her breasts -- very uncomfortable.
My
It was a real problem for me when they threw away my "specials" pattern when they moved their office and the lady I worked with retired. That was when I decided that enough was enough. I could never wear them at night -- drove me nuts, would get up and take them OFF in my sleep -- so mine lasted a long time.
I am amazed at men who answer the door in their garment tops and pants on! Or run around outside in the yard like that! We were always told to wear them UNDER your clothing, they were NOT outer clothing! It would be the same thing as a woman going outside in her bra to answer the door, mow the lawn, etc.
I have been in homes were people run around just in the garments in front of the children. I always thought that was weird! If they are so sacred and so holy, and not to be seen, put something on top of them!
I never could understand the mind set of some of the women I knew that thought the garments were the greatest things since sliced bread. I talked to one woman who had 150 pair of them. She bought several pair every fabric, and style they had. She said she loved to get out of the bath and put on a fresh pair!
Many of you know that the temple garments were sold over the counter in Penny's in Utah and Idaho before the distribution centers opened. It was not uncommon for non-temple goers to buy them, especially the long white mens union suits as they were excellent for winter underwear.
We had a elderly aunt (born in about 1860) who never took her garments off completely, even to bathe. She also never allowed anyone to work on her farm without a shirt on. Garments were never seen, clothing was always worn over them, and nakedness was unacceptable, even a small child was not allowed to get out of the bath and run around nude. That was Mormonism in Idaho!
His and Hers Garments Mix Up
When I think back to the goofy things that happened in the temple, the single event that stands out is the time an elderly lady with our group went to the temple (we had to travel about two hours) with her matching temple suitcase (with all the temple garb in there - remember those?)after her elderly husband died and realized when she got to the lockers....
She had his suitcase! So, she put on his one piece garmies with the fly, got dressed in her clothes and carried the robes and apron in the packet. Someone got her a veil. Then she cracked us up again, when she wondered ...if...they buried him in her garments!
Well, of course they didn't, because they have special open backed burial garments, but it was the one time that I went through the temple smiling an stifling a chuckle!
We laughed for years at the visual of her short, squatty, square body in her deceased, very tall, large husband's one piece garments! A couple of us would look at each other and say remember ____ (her name) and crack up!
Garments and nakedness
This is such a major part of Mormonism, that I can't get past it's power over the members.
I guess I never did quite "get it' that the undies (Holy Garment of the Priesthood- women wear that priesthood garment, but cannot officiate), were so special and sacred and that people lived in fear of not wearing them. Just never occurred to me as a convert.
I was raised in the days of wearing an undershirt and panties under your clothes, growing up in the 40's and taught by women in my family that your underwear should be as nice as your outer wear. A well dressed woman had at least white underwear and a set of black underwear for dark outer clothes. . But nobody ever considered that daytime underwear was to be worn at night. Pajamas or nighties were made for that pupose. Panties maybe, with nighties, but nothing else was added.
Getting used to the temple undies was no easy feat for me. First of all, the RS pres in the early 60's who ordered mine for me, ordered them in nylon, in a size too small when we were moving to Utah. Note: the two piece garments didn't come out until about 1977. What was she thinking? She thought because we were students, the nylon would wear better!That was horrible. I finally got up enough money to get the Bemberg Rayon fabric which was at least, somewhat comfortable.
BUT.... never could wear the damn things at night. Even if I went to bed with them on, I would wake up in the morning and find them under the pillow or on the floor. Finally I gave up. I even told the bishop and stake presy in temple recommend interviews that I couldn't wear them at night and they never said a word about it.
I am amazed at what I told these ecclesiastical leaders. Religious power, the minister syndrome was drilled into me from my background so I came by it naturally -- many generations of ministers in my family and lots of personal experience with the local minister growing up solidified my respect for them.
I didn't mind wearing the undies in the daytime, when, many years later, I finally got the specials dept to make ones that fit and didn't irritate my skin. They were made with no lace, which stopped the skin irritation and itching, a real cap sleeve and seams under my breasts. I have sensitive skin so wearing the bra over them was no problem and protected my skin from chaffing. I bought nursing garments, nursing bras, which were worn next to the skin, obviously. The garments were acceptable attire for my new adopted culture and socially acceptable. So, I adjusted.
But, on the whole, I am flabbergasted at the level of fear people have about taking them off. Especially what I have observed in the older generations -- men and women now deceased or in their 70's and up.
They only wear the normal, regular undies (or "gentile" skivvies!!-nobody but a Mormon understands that odd use of that word!) when going to the doctor, or when swimming, taking therapy, and other kinds of events.
I have told the story before, but it bears repeating. This is a different kind of Mormon - one I never met before, but was, apparently quite common in the little Idaho farm areas of my adopted Mormon culture.
I married into a Mormon family and we often stayed with an elderly aunt (born in about 1890) that had Mormon heritage back to Nauvoo (now deceased, of course). Her home (she was a widow) was our over-night stop, traveling to and from BYU to Oregon back in the 60's.
I will never forget how she chastised me on evening, because our 16 month old little boy came out of her bathroom and lost his towel on the way to the couch to be dressed in his night wear. It had no idea that it was a huge sin to be naked. Not acceptable in her home. I was aghast. He is a 'baby" I said. Didn't matter. NO NAKEDNESS in her home.
I later found out that she never took the whole garment off even to bathe. I don't know exactly how she did it, but apparently, she used the bathtub, and took half the garment off, bathed half her body, put on half of the new garment, removed the dirty one, and so on. Those were the days of the full garment, and the one piece garment.
These are the kind of Mormons who insisted that the garment be worn 100% of the time, no matter how hot it is, or where they are - day and night, (different ones for nighttime)-they are worn like another skin. Always.
Not that I care anymore about garments, but for those that must wear them because they are committed, how about using silk?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2015 01:12PM by SusieQ#1.