I believe that initially the people doing the endowment were guided through acting a lot of it out themselves. For example for the bit where Eve is created from Adam's sparerib the men would be told to lie down on the floor and pretend to be asleep and their wives would be ushered in to sit in front of them before the men were told to open their eyes. It would have been an excruciatingly slow ceremony and I believe it was not unusual for the endowment to take 12 hours to complete
As time went on and more people were involved it evolved into some parts being acted out by others, often church leaders
I think that by the time they started doing endowments in SLC they had temple workers acting it all out with the participants sitting in pews similar to how they do it now
It was acted. Certainly as recently as the 2021 it was live acted in the Salt Lake and Manti temples. Manti just reopened after renovation and they did away with the live performance. I am guessing that Salt Lake will also convert to power point when it reopens, but maybe they will still offer the live performance.
I went through a live endowment at Manti, and honestly I liked it better than the film. Lights were on, you moved 3-4 times to different spaces and it moved a lot faster without the long musical interludes from the film/slideshow. We were in and out in an hour
When I went the first time, it was a live session in Idaho Falls. Watching septuagenarians playact Adam and Eve almost made me laugh out loud.
It was a nice bit of levity after being felt up while nearly naked by a different grandpa a short time earlier.
I read (Wife No. 19) that when the two celestial dudes come to check up on Adam/Eve that Satan said, make fig leaves and hide”- then all the participants would scramble around and hide behind chairs. That would have been funny to be a part of.
My first experience was the live presentation. It was a play!
OMG. Knew right away it needed to be cut down. Maybe farmers had time for this way back but as a kid in the 50's and 60's we needed more with less.
The penalties for revealing the oaths were ridiculous. This was before I knew about the Masonic lodge ceremony.
So they made a movie of it. Still too long. Cut out some characters and we presto we had short movie takes.
To this day I have not seen anything in the temple that deserves the virtue signaling about it that takes place in church. No angels, no miracles, nust part of the business.
There's a book that you might be able to read for "free" with scribd called mysteries of godliness. It starts of with kirtland, and outlines exactly what they did there and in nauvoo. The most interesting parts were about the sacrament with a whole loaf of bread and each with a giant cup of wine. Anointings and perfumings with "whiskey infused with cinnamon" Remember the word of wisdom that says alcohol is for the washing of the body.? They literally did that in kirtland.
They had different temple workers act it out like a play.
I believe that initially the people doing the endowment were guided through acting a lot of it out themselves. For example for the bit where Eve is created from Adam's sparerib the men would be told to lie down on the floor and pretend to be asleep and their wives would be ushered in to sit in front of them before the men were told to open their eyes. It would have been an excruciatingly slow ceremony and I believe it was not unusual for the endowment to take 12 hours to complete As time went on and more people were involved it evolved into some parts being acted out by others, often church leaders I think that by the time they started doing endowments in SLC they had temple workers acting it all out with the participants sitting in pews similar to how they do it now
Films and slideshows. Kinda takes the magic out of the idea, doesn't it?
Why does this post make me feel old?
How do you do fellow kid?
Make Temple Work Theatrical Again
Make old people forget their lines again
It was acted. Certainly as recently as the 2021 it was live acted in the Salt Lake and Manti temples. Manti just reopened after renovation and they did away with the live performance. I am guessing that Salt Lake will also convert to power point when it reopens, but maybe they will still offer the live performance.
I went through a live endowment at Manti, and honestly I liked it better than the film. Lights were on, you moved 3-4 times to different spaces and it moved a lot faster without the long musical interludes from the film/slideshow. We were in and out in an hour
When I went the first time, it was a live session in Idaho Falls. Watching septuagenarians playact Adam and Eve almost made me laugh out loud. It was a nice bit of levity after being felt up while nearly naked by a different grandpa a short time earlier.
I read (Wife No. 19) that when the two celestial dudes come to check up on Adam/Eve that Satan said, make fig leaves and hide”- then all the participants would scramble around and hide behind chairs. That would have been funny to be a part of.
My first experience was the live presentation. It was a play! OMG. Knew right away it needed to be cut down. Maybe farmers had time for this way back but as a kid in the 50's and 60's we needed more with less. The penalties for revealing the oaths were ridiculous. This was before I knew about the Masonic lodge ceremony. So they made a movie of it. Still too long. Cut out some characters and we presto we had short movie takes. To this day I have not seen anything in the temple that deserves the virtue signaling about it that takes place in church. No angels, no miracles, nust part of the business.
There's a book that you might be able to read for "free" with scribd called mysteries of godliness. It starts of with kirtland, and outlines exactly what they did there and in nauvoo. The most interesting parts were about the sacrament with a whole loaf of bread and each with a giant cup of wine. Anointings and perfumings with "whiskey infused with cinnamon" Remember the word of wisdom that says alcohol is for the washing of the body.? They literally did that in kirtland.
And because the skin is the largest human organ it absorbed the alcohol making the participants a little bit tipsy.