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gurdymonkey[Error: unknown template qotd]The only reason I'm answering this was because I Viewed Other Answers and couldn't believe my eyes.
Does NO ONE know the difference between a habit and a tradition? Judging from the first page of other answers that popped up, you'd think not. What part of "carrying the cultural torch" are these people not getting?
Brushing your teeth is not a tradition.
Tradition is something handed down. It's something you do because your family or your community did it and now you're the generation to do it and pass it on to the next.
My Irish Catholic grandmother always kept a votive candle lit in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary on the tall dresser in her bedroom. Always.
My mother has her own votive candle and statue.
As the child of a Catholic and a Jew I had to reconcile myself pretty early on to the idea that there is no One True Way and that spiritual fulfillment is where one finds it. Not long after I moved into this place, I picked up a package of Japanese incense, hoping to drive away the fresh paint smells coming from the apartment my landlord was re-doing on the second floor. Long after the paint odors had faded, I continued to light incense, because I found that I liked it.
I also found myself lighting it for other reasons. Those on my F-list have seen me write "Incense is lit" in response to requests for prayers, positive thoughts or crossed fingers. The lighting of incense is a symbol of prayer or intention or whatever you want to call it. It's an offering, whether it be made in a Buddhist temple or the Vatican. The same is true of the lighting of votive candles. (Tangential thought: modern fire codes have resulted in these horrible electric "candles" in most churches nowadays. Drop a coin and press a button. It just isn't the same.)
My nose tells me that if I have a stick of Nippon Kodo going in a bowl on the second floor, the smoke rises at least as far as my garret. I cannot say if it rises high enough to be noticed and appreciated by a deity. It is one of those things we humans do to mark our hopes for ourselves and those around us, to bring us comfort in "interesting times", as the proverb describes it.
Does NO ONE know the difference between a habit and a tradition? Judging from the first page of other answers that popped up, you'd think not. What part of "carrying the cultural torch" are these people not getting?
Brushing your teeth is not a tradition.
Tradition is something handed down. It's something you do because your family or your community did it and now you're the generation to do it and pass it on to the next.
My Irish Catholic grandmother always kept a votive candle lit in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary on the tall dresser in her bedroom. Always.
My mother has her own votive candle and statue.
As the child of a Catholic and a Jew I had to reconcile myself pretty early on to the idea that there is no One True Way and that spiritual fulfillment is where one finds it. Not long after I moved into this place, I picked up a package of Japanese incense, hoping to drive away the fresh paint smells coming from the apartment my landlord was re-doing on the second floor. Long after the paint odors had faded, I continued to light incense, because I found that I liked it.
I also found myself lighting it for other reasons. Those on my F-list have seen me write "Incense is lit" in response to requests for prayers, positive thoughts or crossed fingers. The lighting of incense is a symbol of prayer or intention or whatever you want to call it. It's an offering, whether it be made in a Buddhist temple or the Vatican. The same is true of the lighting of votive candles. (Tangential thought: modern fire codes have resulted in these horrible electric "candles" in most churches nowadays. Drop a coin and press a button. It just isn't the same.)
My nose tells me that if I have a stick of Nippon Kodo going in a bowl on the second floor, the smoke rises at least as far as my garret. I cannot say if it rises high enough to be noticed and appreciated by a deity. It is one of those things we humans do to mark our hopes for ourselves and those around us, to bring us comfort in "interesting times", as the proverb describes it.
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Date: 2008-07-27 06:22 am (UTC)Basically, You smell the incense, you remember why you lit it, and say a little prayer again. Subconscious, don't even really think about it. And God hears them all. The Universe is like that. :)
So it is all good.
I don't like electric candles either, but I understand the fear of fire, and the mess that a poorly placed wax candle can produce. When we light candles in the house, it is always a matter of how can we place them so they don't cause a fire and the mess is easy to clean up. I do have an electric menorah for those times when I want to place one in the window or very young grandkids are running around. Better safe than sorry.