Interview, Part One

After visiting the Universal Unitarian church last week, we were able to interview two members about their church's traditions. Here is a summary of the first part of the interview. We'll post the rest soon!

Q: Do UUs believe in an afterlife?

We don’t have a single belief in a specific afterlife, but single members have their own individual beliefs about an afterlife.

Q: Why did you choose your religion?

1: I didn’t want a religion that was too fixed on God.
2: I was brought up as a UU from when I was very young.

Q: Does your religion have specific festivals/celebrations?

At Christmas time, UUs have many different holiday symbols displayed on their altars—for example, we have a Hanukkah candelabra, a Christmas tree, and other symbols for that time of year. UUs don’t just celebrate Christmas—we celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Yuletide as well. In the New Year, our church has an apple and cheese communion—we pass around apple slices and cheese. However, this is individual to our church, since we don’t know of any other UU churches that have this communion.
In the spring around May, we have a Flower Communion. In this communion, each church member brings a flower to their church and exchanges it for a different flower with another member.

Q:Is a person of your religion required to make a certain pilgrimage?

We don’t have any specific pilgrimages that we are required to make, but we do have a general annual convention, or meeting, that any Universal Unitarian who wishes to go can. UU historical roots are in New England, so if someone wanted to go learn about the history of UUs, New England would be a good place to go. Many UUs go there to learn more about their religion, so that is a pilgrimage of sorts.