
Temples in Utah (and elsewhere) often have special sessions for Spanish speaking patrons. A temple worker once told me that that even though he doesn’t speak Spanish, he thought it would be fun to learn the veil ceremony in Spanish. He was an older fellow, and decided to go on a mission with his wife. On his mission application, he noted that he knew the the veil ceremony in Spanish, and was subsequently called on a Temple mission to South America. (I think it was Chile.) He said it was a wonderful experience. He told me that he often closes his eyes to concentrate (because sometimes it can be a little noisy at the veil.) While he was learning the Spanish ceremony, however, he needed to read a Spanish language card. One time, without warning, an English speaking patron came to the veil, and he didn’t know how to respond at first!
I often close my eyes to concentrate at the veil as well. Have you had any experiences like this at the veil that you feel comfortable sharing?
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No need to close my eyes at the veil, the noise is still there – eyes shut or open. Besides that, I hope that Diety on the other side also has their eyes open because I don’t want to get conked on the head with a mallet because they missed the pole with closed eyes “concentrating” on what they should already have memorized. Since the changes in 1990, the veil enactment is shorter and one does not have to go through all of those bizarre body contortions to get to the other side. Whew!
Not only do I keep them open, I have them fixed on the worker with a wondrous and puzzled look on my face. That’s the best practice for me. If we really have to go thru a ritual at the actual veil, I won’t be able to take my eyes off my angelic wingman while I think “Holy Snap, we’re really going to do this?”
Close my eyes to concentrate on the speaking, mine and theirs. And not only at the veil. I close my eyes to concentrate on sacrament meeting talks as well – not my own though, as I have to read.
I only close my eyes on certain bits, but I mess myself up if I think about it too hard. Better to keep a bit detached and let the words flow from long-term memory.