I've read around here before that some famous church lady said something about cutting a slit in garmies for sex so you never have to take 'em off (pretty sure y'all said Eliza Snow?), but I can't find the exact quote anywhere... can someone point me the right way?

Also, somebody mentioned that garmies were originally created as a reminder about the secret oath of polygamy... anybody know anything about this or some good references?

This kind of stuff will be great ammo when I finally confront DH to say I'm no longer wearin' the things!!!

That would be good to know.

I'm a guy yet I almost feel like a 60's hippy chick... instead of burning bra's I want to burn my garments heh

This should be in the archives somewhere. Some years ago I did extensive research about the garments, just having a hunch that there must be more to the symbols than I knew. This is what I learned:

The original stolen ceremony from the Masons included actual cutting of the symbols with a knife through the garment and the flesh. The marks were the scars.

Joseph Smith insisted that female members go through this ceremony because he felt the oath's and threats would keep them quiet about polygamy (i.e., who he was screwing). When Emma learned that her breast would be cut, she said absolutely not. She said she would do it symbolically and showed Joseph how she had created the symbols using red threat on the appropriate spots where the cuts would have been. If you wear this and never take it off, she suggested, you would have accomplished the same thing.

Joseph agreed, liking the idea that he could have everyone
"in uniform" in his army of saints.

The red thread was replaced by white as the garment began to evolve so that it wasn't visible under white blouses, and it began to change and evolve to keep up with fashion.

If you want sources, the academics among us might post them for you here.

Anagrammy

That is some f'ed up stuff!

Unfortunately, it's light on sources:
http://www.calvaryslc.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=XqfrwMGQpPI%3D&tabid=278&mid=1171&forcedownload=true

There is a lot of information in it, including one reference to turkey (red) thread.

It refers to a website lifeline2rlds.org I searched the website and the whole quote is here:

http://www.lifeline2rlds.org/cms/historical.html

“The men were stripped, washed, anointed, and then, as in the Masonic ceremony, dressed in a special ‘garment’ which was held together with strings…. The Masonic square and compass were cut into the garment on the breast and a slash was made across the knee…deep enough to penetrate the flesh…. There was also a slash in the garment across the abdomen, symbolic of the disemboweling that would be the fate of anyone who revealed the sacred secrets. After swearing to an oath of secrecy the initiate was dressed in white robes and permitted to witness a long allegorical drama depicting the creation of the earth and the fall of Adam….

“After being expelled from the Garden of Eden, the actors representing Adam and Eve donned tiny white aprons which were exactly like the Masonic aprons except that they were painted with green fig leaves. Then followed instruction in certain grips, passwords, and ‘keys.’ Each man was given a secret name by which he was to be known in the kingdom of heaven…. Joseph made free use of other Masonic symbols—the beehive, the all-seeing eye, the two clasped hands, and the point within the circle…. The temple mysteries were closely bound up with Joseph’s new theories about the nature of heaven and hell. After death, he said, all souls went to the world of spirits—similar to purgatory of Catholic theology—where they remained in a not unpleasant imprisonment until the Judgment Day.”[75]

Footnote 75 is Brodie, No Man Knows my History, pp. 280-282.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2011 08:02PM by Makurosu.