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Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City - interesting facts. Mormons

As the name implies, this city is located near the Great Salt Lake - an amazing natural phenomenon in North America. The city itself is also, in a certain sense, a phenomenon. Founded as the capital of the Mormons in the 19th century, Salt Lake City became the most important transit point on the way of the first settlers from the east of the United States to the west. The city grew rich by building wagons for them and supplying them with food. Today's Salt Lake City is one of the most comfortable cities in America.

The capital of Utah is located in the Great Salt Lake Valley, at the foot of the Wasatch Mountain Range. In the 19th century adherents of the Mormon religion moved here, who decided to turn the city into a new Jerusalem.

CITY BY SALT LAKE

In 1846-1847. a group of followers of the teachings of Joseph Smith (1805-1844), led by his successor Brigham Young (1801-1877), set out from the banks of the Missouri to the west to find the Promised Land and build New Jerusalem for all the Mormons of the world.

Salt Lake City is the capital and largest city in the US state of Utah. The city got its name from the nearby Great Salt Lake - the largest continental salt reservoir in the Western Hemisphere. This lake is also one of the most saline in the world: depending on the amount of precipitation, the salinity of its water varies greatly, from 137%o to 300%o. For comparison: the average salinity of the World Ocean is 35%o (i.e. 3.5%). Behind medicinal properties it is also called the "Dead Sea of America".

The Jordan River flows through the Mormon city (the first name is New Jerusalem): here it receives several tributaries and flows into the Great Salt Lake.

The climate of Salt Lake City is characterized by hot, dry summers and cold winter with heavy snowfalls, which is surprising for such low latitudes, especially considering that the neighboring Great Salt Desert

The lakes are Utah's driest location, with an annual rainfall of less than 127 mm. The explanation lies in the "snow effect" of the Great Salt Lake: cold wind from the mountains, moving over the warm water of the lake, it is saturated with water vapor and falls in the form of "dry snow" even in warm winters. During the winter, up to one and a half meters of snow can fall.

The harsh climate did not scare away the Indian tribes of the Shoshone, Paiutes, Goshutes and Ute (the name of the tribe later gave the name to the entire state), but the first expeditions of Europeans did not immediately lead to the mass migration of whites to these deserted expanses: in 1540 to the territory the state was penetrated by Spanish soldiers Francisco de Coronado (1510-1554) in search of the treasures of the Seven Cities of Sivola, in 1776 two Franciscan missionaries, Silvestre de Escalante and Francisco Dominguez, went in search of a convenient route to California, but the same the route proved tragic for 44 of the 91 American pioneers in the Donner Company during the winter of 1846-1847. In search of furs, many "mountmen" (hunters, pioneers and fur traders) visited the Rocky Mountains. On lands unsuitable for farming, for a long time none of the whites applied. This required special people with special ideas.

Such people turned out to be the Latter Day Saints, led by the second president of the sect, Brigham Young (the first was, of course, its founder and author of the Book of Mormon (1830) John Smith), who fled from the persecution of the authorities in order to seclude and safe place to establish their own theocratic state of the Mormons (similar to Ancient Israel). The city was originally called New Jerusalem, but later in official documents the name Salt Lake City was fixed. Today, the name is often abbreviated to Salt Lake and SLC in everyday life.

Mormon settlers from many countries of the world came to the city, and now they make up more than half of the population. The industrious and enterprising Mormons irrigated the surroundings of the lake and made the deserted desert and swamps suitable for Agriculture. Population growth was largely driven by California Golden fever 1848-1855: Salt Lake City was an important staging post for prospectors from the east to the west of the United States.

With the development of the mining industry and construction railways in the 1860s and 1870s Salt Lake City is big shopping center in the Western USA. Its importance increased even more when in 1856 the city became the capital of the Territory of Utah, since 1896 - the capital of Utah.

Today the city has not lost its importance as a major economic and transport center of the country.

Salt Lake City is located in the north of Utah on a high plateau (1300 m above sea level), 30 km to the northwest lies a lake, on the other sides it is surrounded by mountains: Wasatch (up to 3502 m near the city limits), Traverse- Mountain (1830 m) and Oquirr (3237 m). On the map, the "ideal city" of the Mormons is represented by rectangular blocks separated by wide streets and large parks.

AT THE CROSSROADS

Salt Lake City stands at the intersection of the most important highways that have connected the east and west of the United States since the time of the first settlers.

The Mormons built Salt Lake City according to the plan of their religious leader, Joseph Smith, to build the perfect "City of Zion." The ideal in the view of the Mormons turned out to be a city with a strict rectangular layout of streets and quarters (blocks) of the same area. Most of the streets stretched from north to south and from east to west. The streets are quite wide.

It was special requirement Brigham Young, who insisted that the width of the street allow the van with the settlers to turn around "without resorting to blasphemous language." As the city grew, the layout took on an increasingly free character, not bound by Mormon canons and more adapted to the needs of the population of different faiths.

Salt Lake City is home to the international headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Saints last days whose followers founded the city. But the number of Mormons in the city has been steadily declining, and now only about half of the inhabitants are Mormons. However, Americans traditionally consider Salt Lake City the capital of the Mormons and have given it the nickname "Holy City of the Saints".

Salt Lake City is not only a great religious center, but also the heart of a large mining area. Enterprises of the military-industrial complex are concentrated around the city, including those producing rockets and shells. The largest copper smelter in the United States was built in the suburb of Garfield. The city has retained its "Crossroads of the West" status due to its advantageous geographic location in the center of the Western United States. Highways passing through the city are the main transport corridor on the way East-West and back, and the entire district is built up with giant buildings of transit warehouses.

All big role Tourism plays a major role in the city's economy. In particular, Salt Lake City has become one of the largest American centers winter views sports. In 2002, the XIX Winter Olympic Games were held here.

The city has many buildings reminiscent of the Mormon past and the present of Salt Lake City.

The temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (second half of the 19th century) rises in the city center - the largest and most famous temple of the Mormon denomination in the world. Its construction lasted for 40 years, it covers an area of more than 40 thousand m2, its height is 68 m. beginning of the 21st century), as well as a large gallery of sculptural religious compositions. Visitors are let through selectively.

Nearby are the Museum of Church History and Art, as well as the Library family history with the largest genealogical fund in the world. A few blocks from the temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Capitol Building (early 20th century) rises, its gleaming copper dome visible from afar.

“Hive House”, or “Bee House” (mid-19th century), is what the residents of Salt Lake City call the building of the museum and the former official residence of the head of the Mormons and the first governor of Utah, Brigham Young. The bee is a symbol of Mormon industriousness, and the image of the beehive is located on the roof of the building.

Another reminder of the heroism of the Mormons who built the city in the desert is Place Heritage Park: a historic park with a monument dedicated to Mormon settlers.

CURIOUS FACTS

■ Salt Lake City celebrates "Pioneer Day" on July 24 each year to mark the date the Mormons arrived in Utah.

■ The streets of Salt Lake City have both official titles(for example, State Street), and memorial, in honor of famous citizens and citizens of the United States (for example, Martin Luther King Street). These names are on street signs, but only the numbers of these streets appear in postal addresses (for example, 300th South).

■ Americans consider the inhabitants of Salt Lake City the most conceited and narcissistic in the country. This opinion is based on the fact that largest number plastic surgeons per 100 thousand people and people spend more on cosmetical tools than the inhabitants of any other similar American city.

■ Deseret State - An area declared a "Mormon State" by Mormon settlers in Salt Lake City, led by Brigham Young, in the mid-19th century. The Mormons even created a special Deserite alphabet. The state of Deseret was never recognized by the US federal government, which created the state of Utah in 1850.

■ Bacterial activity in the swampy area separating Salt Lake City from the Great Salt Lake creates a rather unpleasant natural phenomenon: two or three times a year the wind blows from the lake and the city is filled with a smell rotten eggs which lasts for several hours.

■ Brigham Young, second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, married 55 women; 16 of them bore him 56 children. Mormons officially abandoned plural marriage in the 1890s.

ATTRACTIONS

■ Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (second half of the 19th century) with the seat of the Mormon Church;
■ Mormon Tabernacle (meeting room, second half of the 19th century);
■ Conference Center (late 20th - early 21st century);
■ Tomb of Brigham Young (Mormon leader and city founder);
■ Museum of Mormon Church History, Museum of Church History and Art; Pioneer Memorial Museum, Museum fine arts, Natural History Museum, Fort Douglas Military Museum;
■ Family history library;
■ Capitol (early 20th century);
■ "Hive House" or "Bee House" (mid-19th century);
■ Ebreweinel Hall Concert Hall;
■ Madeleine Catholic Cathedral (early 20th century);
■ Clark Planetarium;
■ Marmalade Districts Historic District (late 19th century residential buildings); Gathway District;
■ Trolly Square (art galleries in old depot buildings);
■ City parks: Place Heritage Park (historic park with a monument to Mormon settlers), Liberty Park, Red Butte Gardens, Sugar Park House (site of city celebrations), Memorial Grove Memorial Grove (a memorial honoring Utah veterans ); Hogle Zoo.
■Ski resorts: Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton, Donat Falls.

Atlas. The whole world in your hands number 150

An amateur genealogist literally in the first two or three months of searching begins a terrible depression - all available sources have ended, and there was so little information in them! Where to look now? It's good if there is an archive nearby, and quite good luck if the ancestors were born in the same area. But what if you are in Brasilia or Tokyo? And I am interested in the small village of Bashmakovka in the backyards of Mother Rus', even if it is in the center of Belarus! There are thousands of kilometers to the archive, trouble with volunteers, even worse with paid genealogists!
In dejection, you stumble upon a mention of Mormons. Who are they? And how do they know about Bashmakovka ??
So. Once smart, ambitious, wanting to take over the world and, most importantly, wealthy uncles from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decided to collect electronic copies of archival documents from all over the world in one place. First of all, copies of documents related to genealogy. All this wealth is stored in the Family History Library.

Family History Library. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

It is clear that for 98.5% of Americans such a repository is very relevant - sooner or later everyone will cross the 60-70-year mark and wonder about the pre-immigration life of their ancestors. And then everything is very simple - they searched online databases, went to the library, ordered microfilms to their city, looked through them, signed them out and went through genealogical tourism to their homeland to breathe the air of their ancestors and communicate with distant, distant relatives ...
Many Mormon materials are already online, and what you don't find on the site can be studied at family history centers around the world. The only restrictions so far are that microfilms are not sent to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. And quite special case- although there is a Mormon church in the Czech Republic, there is no family history center, since all the metrics were filmed by the archives themselves and posted on the Internet.
I go to the Family History Center in Dresden. The process is as follows: on the site https://familysearch.org/catalog-search I found the microfilms I needed, ordered, paid 8.5 euros per piece, waited for a response about their arrival (about a month and a half), agreed with the center on the date of my arrival (often European centers work only a couple of hours a week) and, in fact, arrived. 6 hours without food and water - it's impossible to come off! The result is back pain, hunger, swelling of everything you can, 20 pages of notes, pride in your soul, even sing Kalinka-Malinka!

In Russia, invisible cemetery passions are seething. Representatives of the American Mormon sect copy the lists of the dead in the archives. They are going to "convert" the dead Russians to their faith and even "marry". Only after these procedures, according to the sectarians, the dead will be able to rise on the day of judgment. however, the Orthodox people do not believe in sectarians and do not want to "sell" their ancestors.

Recently, Bishop Tikhon of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory sent a letter to the governor of the region, in which he asked to protect local archives from foreigners.

There are kept metric data about holy ascetics, world-famous explorers, clergy, seafarers and ordinary inhabitants of Pomorie, - says the representative of the diocese Father Valery (Suvorov). - And we do not want to give them to the Mormons to reproach. After all, they in absentia initiate dead people into their sect, and write the dead women into their harems.

Sectarians act through intermediaries, - explains the director of the Arkhangelsk archive Nikolai Shumilov. - The Utah Genealogical Society, which represents the interests of Mormons around the world, signed an agreement with the Russian Society of Historians and Archivists back in 1996. It is they who offer to "sell them dead countrymen" for ... 7 cents for 5-6 surnames. More precisely, for one frame of microfilm with a copy of metric documents. The deal is disguised as the creation of an insurance archive. One copy remains in Russia, and the other goes to America, to Salt Lake City. It houses the Mormons' world headquarters and the family history library where their temple rites are performed.

The penetration of this sect into our country began in the early 90s. Then it was officially recognized as a religious organization, - priest Anatoly Berestov told Rodnaya Gazeta. - In Russia, the Mormons are doing destructive work. They collect a dossier on every citizen of Russia. In addition, the activities of the Mormons offend the feelings of believers of other religions and create tension in society.

But archivists do not think so. Now, for Mormon money, archives are copied to Nizhny Novgorod, Petrozavodsk, Kazan, Izhevsk and a number of other cities.

It is beneficial for us to cooperate with them, - says Mikhail Stegantsev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Society of Historians and Archivists. - They organize the creation of an insurance fund on microfilms at their own expense. This real gift fate. After all, the archives are in a deplorable state.

By Russian laws regional archives have the right to independently dispose of their documents, - comments Alexander Groshev, head of the Rosarkhiv department. - Therefore, we do not interfere in their activities.

And Mormons claim that they work only for the benefit of mankind. The Genealogical Society of Utah helps people find out their genealogies, and the dead in the other world will figure it out for themselves - to accept Mormonism or not.

Believe me, there is no conspiracy against the Russians, says the head Russian branch Church of Christ of the Latter Days (Mormons) Vladimir Nechiporov. In an expensive suit, with a constant smile on his lips, he looks more like a successful manager than a priest. Vladimir had long ago baptized his ancestors as Mormons. But this ceremony, according to him, can be carried out only with the consent of the relatives of the deceased. - "Baptism" for the deceased means the performance of the sacrament, which gives him the opportunity there, in heaven, to make his choice. There is no forced "drive" to the Mormons. This is just one of the tenets of our faith, just like candles in churches.

But I did not believe him and just in case looked at the sky. What if one day we all will be announced that we are descendants of the Mormons, and my grandmother, buried according to all Orthodox canons, is now listed as the fifth wife of some farmer from the distant state of Utah?

You're not a miracle there, old one, I thought. And when I drank tea, I calmed down. Mormons do not drink tea or coffee.

Historical reference

The Mormon Church was founded on April 6, 1830 by Joseph Smith. According to him, an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him about a book buried on Mount Cumorah in the state of New York. Smith "translated" it, and this literary work became the main book of the Mormons. But people believed him reluctantly. In 1839, Smith came to Illinois and tried to establish a Mormon community there. But he was let down by love for the weaker sex. Angry husbands, tired of Smith's adventures, smeared him in resin and rolled him in feathers. In 1844 the preacher was shot dead. His successor Brigham Young was more fortunate. He founded Salt Lake City, which became the Mormon capital, and lived to a ripe old age. Young had 70 wives and 56 children. In 1890, under pressure from the authorities, the Mormons abolished polygamy. But unofficially, polygamy flourishes in Mormon communities today.

WHAT THEY BELIEVE

Structure of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Days

The prophet-president manages the church, and 12 apostles help him in this. The lowest rung of the hierarchy is the "guard" (parish). These people are not initiated into the activities of the top, but they are obliged to deduct a tenth of the income to the community and implicitly follow all orders. Mormons do not drink alcohol, do not smoke, do not drink tea and coffee. Boys and girls are required to remain celibate until marriage. There are now over 11 million Mormons in the world. There are about 18 thousand of them in Russia.

CONVERTS

Who became a Mormon after death

The Mormons enrolled Alexander the Great, Columbus, and Napoleon into their sect. They even carried out a mass "baptism" of Jews - victims of the Holocaust, and at the same time converted Hitler to their faith.

The United States is a relatively young nation, but over the nearly two and a half centuries of its existence, it has managed to accumulate hundreds of millions of documents. Birth, marriage and death certificates, land rights, materials court sessions– many of these rare records are literally rotting in damp cellars and drafty attics of old buildings. The Voice of America correspondent learned about the unusual allies of the restorers who help them fight this problem.

Carol Roberts - hard work. She doesn't just restore and digitize two centuries of Tennessee records, she helps 95 counties in the state preserve rare records.

“We are cleaning these historical documents, restoring them as soon as we can. We help with absolutely any collection that we can save for the future,” says Carol.

The State of Tennessee has found an unusual partner to do this job, and it's 2,500 miles away, in Utah. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as the Mormon Church, is located in Salt Lake City and maintains the world's largest collection of bloodline information in its archives.

There are 20 billion records in Mormon archives; and every day another million documents are added to them. Some documents were brought by church missionaries from all over the world, some became part of the collection through public and private collections. Anyone can get acquainted with them for free.

“Anyone, no matter where they are, can come here and we will help them find their descendants in already digitized records or on microfilm,” says Raymond Naisbitt, family historian.

The Church collects these records for religious purposes; and these recordings have already been used in controversial situations. However, according to the leadership of the Church, the archives only confirm the main tenet of the Mormon faith - the family is above all.

“We believe that family relationships are not terminated by death, that they are eternal in nature, that we will see our loved ones again. We archive so we know who we can lean on and tell their stories to those who come after us. This is what makes the family special strength and creates strong bonds,” explains Paul Nuta, spokesman.

The Church is working diligently to digitize its entire archive. Special applications today allow you to find many records on the Internet at any time. According to Naisbitt, the electronic form of these documents is an important component of developing interest in them among young people: "It allows us to get in touch not only with our past and present, but also with future generations."

The church has over 4,800 Genealogy Centers around the world where local volunteers provide free help looking for relatives.

“And very often we witnessed people screaming, crying with joy when they came into contact with their family background and found relatives,” Nicebitt says.

Volunteers in Memphis, after nine years of painstaking work, soon plan to complete the work of restoring and digitizing documents in the state's largest county.

The world around us is large, and even inveterate travelers will not have time to visit all the cities in their lives, learn local life and make friends with your neighbors. We are much more limited by time than by money. But curiosity for the world is inherent in man from birth and is our most charming feature as a species. To satisfy this curiosity, Lenta.ru is launching a series of materials called Other Cities, in which readers talk about the places where they live. The first text came from Tatyana Loskutova from Salt Lake City, USA.

I have lived in Salt Lake City for over 16 years, my second husband was a Mormon from a Mormon family of Mormon pioneers (that is, those who came to the valley with Briham Young), all family members are active Mormons, go to church every Sunday , pay 10 percent of annual income, observe all the canons and customs bequeathed by Joseph Smith.

As an atheist, I have never been forced into the Mormon faith by anyone, but I never come out with criticism. They believe in this utopian rubbish, so be it, I don't care. They remind me of our communists in Soviet times: were normal people, but there were rabid Bolsheviks, from whom there was no salvation anywhere. Only Mormons are extremely tolerant of other religions. Mormonism is a typical American church that has absorbed all the religions and philosophies that the inquisitive mind of J. Smith and his associates in writing Mormon books could get to in the first half of the 19th century. Such an American religious melting pot. According to the latest data, 52 percent of Mormons live in Utah, the remaining 48 percent are from other faiths.

As I was told, in Russia they know about Mormons mainly from the story of Conan Doyle and suspect that Mormon girls are still forcibly given in marriage. Not at all. They decide who they marry. Some only want Mormon boys, some don't care what denomination their loved one belongs to, some don't want to marry anyone at all. The Church officially banned polygamy at the end of the 19th century. Although secret polygamists still sometimes come to light in Salt Lake City and go to trial. Young people not only drink coffee and tea, but also smoke marijuana, and what can be stronger. Statistics say that we have the most high level the use of antidepressants in the country - 62 percent: that is, a cloud of people is simply inadequate around the clock.

The bulk of the Mormons are Republicans, Utah on the election map is always painted in red Republican color. I only know one Democrat Mormon (he is Mormon by birth). I don't know where they discuss politics, but definitely not at work. Probably in places reserved for such discussions or in families. Facebook posts from Democratic friends are much more aggressive than Republican posts. Democrats are probably more unhappy even with a Democratic president.

One of distinctive features Utah - large Mormon families. It is normal if there are four or more children in the family. The Church does not prohibit, but does not approve of abortion. Use contraceptives allowed. Mormon women give birth as many as they can and want to give birth. Local family cars are called "Mormon Suburbs" - they are big cars full of children and dogs, with a young pregnant mother behind the wheel.

I live in the most Mormon area, I often walk around the area and almost never see children playing in the street, everyone plays inside the yards. If I meet someone with children on the walking paths, then these are Indians or Chinese (of which there are only one or two around). Mormon animals also roam exclusively in backyards. Because, as they explained to me, "they understand that walking along the road is life-threatening." It's funny, because in the old center where they live different people, cats walk the streets!

Mormon churches are built every few blocks, each family is assigned to its own parish. On Sundays, the family attends church with their children. The parish churches have a huge parking lot because everyone comes by car. I have been to church several times, once all morning at the so-called service and a couple of times at the funeral, it was a long time ago. At 8 in the morning people come with their children and go to " Assembly Hall where there are rows of chairs in front of a normal stage, on the back wall of which there is an organ, and on the stage there is a grand piano or upright piano. On the backs of the chairs in the pockets lies a book of psalms, everyone is seated, a priest appointed from the flock (on certain period they are appointed or elected, they are not paid anything for this work) greets everyone and calls the page of the psalm, everyone reads in unison and then sits down. Further, the agenda may be as follows: 1) the report of the missionary who returned home; 2) a report on an emergency in the parish; 3) anything, up to a small concert by the forces of one family. After that, people are taken to different large rooms: women - to the Women's Society, men, respectively, to the Men's Society. Girls and boys - also in different rooms.

IN sorority(Women's Society), when I visited it in the winter of 1998, some knitting courses, salad recipes and all sorts of other nonsense were discussed. Handed out salad recipes to everyone. Then we discussed how we can help lonely old people living in the parish to clear the snow. After that, they appointed who would report and on what topic on the following Sunday, and dispersed into classes of interest, where there were already both children and men. Interest classes were different: cooking, music, literature, and so on. As you can see, there were no sermons and prayers after reading the psalm at the beginning of the service.

Photo courtesy of Tatyana Loskutova

Children are taught to write reports and speak, and all Mormon children are excellent at this. They grow up to be good speakers.

All church work absolutely free, no one gets paid for it. Church through government bodies here governs the number of liquor stores. For example, in our town with an official population of 43,000, there is only one liquor store, which is located on a mountain where there are no schools or churches nearby.

Grocery stores sell only beer with a minimum alcohol content; on Sundays and public holidays the liquor store is closed, on other days it is open from 11 am to 10 pm. Although in neighboring states - Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming - you can buy drinks with a strength of up to 40 degrees around the clock in grocery stores. But in Arkansas, the law is generally dry, so our devil is not so terrible yet.

Mormons do not wear or cross themselves, nor do they have a cross on the pointed spiers of churches, because they believe in the resurrected, living Jesus Christ. They don’t have icons either, in churches there are portraits and statues of Joseph Smith, Briham Young and other “apostles”. In the houses you can see images of Christ with the inscriptions “Come to me” or “I will come to you”, which at first amused me a lot. My mother-in-law had one thing on the refrigerator, but on the contrary, on the wall, another, so I kept asking what to do? Wait for Christ to come himself or go to him?

Restrictions in Everyday life such: you can’t drink coffee, tea (but they drink all kinds of Pepsi and Coca in liters), smoke, drink alcohol, wine, beer, drugs (the latter can be prescribed by doctors), don’t swear, don’t watch porn, don’t have sex before marriage ( both girls and boys, but this also applies to widowed or divorced adults).

Photo courtesy of Tatyana Loskutova

The president of the church automatically has the title of prophet. This is the current prophet for the duration of his reign. The congregation unconditionally believes him. For example, if he says that all Mormons in Salt Lake City need to take children, animals, pack home belongings and move in a column to the mountains to escape an earthquake or some other misfortune, then everyone will pack up overnight and move. I asked many around me and even my husband, who has not been to church for many years, and they all answered that if the prophetic president said to go to the mountains, then they would go. Why? Because they'll be told, that's why. The same “because we were told” applies to the genealogical archives in every family, and to the fact that they all keep diaries, whether on paper or on Facebook, capturing important events in the life of every member of this family. Because they were told to do it. Because we were told. And do not question it. Everyone is obsessed with genealogy, endlessly collecting albums with photographs and documents, this is copied and distributed to adult family members for memory. This is very good, because I could not find the names of relatives beyond my great-grandfather and great-grandmother. Mormons know all relatives up to the 10th generation, and maybe even earlier!

Monday is considered a “family day”, in the evening everyone should be in the house, one of the parents or the eldest of the children read the Bible to the family.

Children are taught music, they sing wonderfully, constantly participate in competitions. Scouting programs operate through the church, and instructors work with children for free in their spare time. In the summer, children are taught to play softball from a young age, there are a lot of game parks with softball fields, schools are also surrounded by huge green fields for games and parking lots. Here children are loved and taken care of very much.

After leaving school, some (not all) parents send their children to missionary work in other states or other countries. If children go to other countries, then they take an intensive accelerated course in the language of this country at Briham Young University. The mission lasts two years, parents pay the lion's share of the costs, if not all 100 percent. Thanks to this, there are many people in the state who know foreign languages and geography, at least countries where they were missionaries.

Photo courtesy of Tatyana Loskutova

Mormon women knit, sew blankets, gather at someone's house for a presentation of cosmetics, bags, crafts. In general, a rich "female" life. Of course, in our state, all federal National holidays, but the biggest parade in Utah is July 24, Pioneer Day. This is the day when the first detachments of the Mormon column with women and children, exhausted by many months of march from the east of the country, having lost many dead from diseases along the way, left Immigration Canyon for the Salt Lake Valley. And Briham Young, seeing the valley and the Great Salt Lake to the northwest, said, "Here we will build New Zion." Fireworks start a few days before July 24 and do not subside three days after. This month in the parks go free concerts and films.

Since Mormons don't drink alcohol, their parties and celebrations can seem boring. This is not entirely true. Their families are large, when they all get together, then with children and grandchildren there are more than 30 people (only one family, without cousins), and they have many common interests. In summer, of course, meat is grilled in the yard, and guests bring salads and desserts with them. They agree in advance who will bring what. How are they having fun? Go to sports performances: football, basketball, baseball. They themselves play a lot of these games, there are summer teams (you have to pay for the use of the site) baseball, you can subscribe to only one season and play once a week. In the canyons we have rivers with trout, you can go fishing or just take meat for picnics where there are tables with benches and fire places and you can kindle a fire. In the mountains, many have summer houses with pieces of land around and a stream, where Sundays. In such houses there is light, hot and cold water, bathrooms and toilets. You can live in them all the time, only in winter a lot of snow falls in the mountains and if the road is not cleaned, you can’t get out of there.

After Olympic Games in Park City (a ski resort) there are many sports githiks that are now used in the summer for riding on the bobsleigh track, aerial cable cars and other entertainment.

And, of course, the Great Salt Lake and many artificial lakes throughout the state. Everyone goes there to ride boats or scooters, water skiing. Many have their own motor boats, boats, so on weekends from the city along the freeway in both directions a string of trucks with attached boats stretches. Some even travel to lakes in neighboring states. Golf, of course, but it's everywhere, so I won't write about it.

in winter skiing. We have about ten ski resorts on Wasach (part of the Rocky Mountains). In addition to skiing, you can ride sleds and boards. For local season tickets are sold at a discount.

Photo courtesy of Tatyana Loskutova

And, of course, in winter and summer, you can hit the road for three days either to Wendover (on the border with Nevada, about 2 hours by car), or to Las Vegas (about 5.5 hours by car) to stare at poker and other things . If you go to Wendover, you can generally turn around in one day. Gambling is prohibited in Utah, but you can always go to a neighboring state to sin. It’s not necessary that everyone goes to Las Vegas exactly to the casino, many famous bands and performers tour there, so you can go to a concert and at the same time spend 20 dollars on one-armed bandits. It’s supposed to, because in Vegas they give you a lot for free.

What's with the weapons? Twice a year, gun shows are held where they sell weapons (from pistols to machine guns, like Schwarzenegger in the Predator movie). Everyone has a weapon in the house, but no one flaunts it, it goes without saying. Just in case. As the clever Golda Meir said: “Israel does not have nuclear weapons, but if necessary, we will apply it. If you want to practice shooting, you can go to shooting ranges specially equipped for this, not free of charge, of course. They say we have low unemployment and low crime. The crime rate depends on where you live. The east and southeast are the most prosperous areas, the west is less prosperous. There's a different demographic, Mexicans. The police in Salt Lake City are so easy to see on the streets. They patrol, of course, but somehow imperceptibly.

Last year, an incident happened in our town: some stray drug addicts drove by at 5 in the morning, stopped at wrong place, and then the night police patrol. He stopped and asked if they needed help, he didn't even get out of the car. They shot him. I woke up at 7am to the sound of a police helicopter and sirens. They chased the police from everywhere, blocked all roads, put up posts with machine guns and called on the phone, told everyone within a radius of three miles from the incident not to leave the house until they reported that the suspect was caught, and to report to the police immediately if someone unknown appeared near the house . This happened more than a year ago, and the policeman is still remembered and always and everywhere they talk about him.

In older parishes, such as Mill Creek, where the population settled down in the 1950s, a Warning! We are watching this area ("Attention! We are watching this area"). This means that if a stranger appeared in this area who just walks the streets, then, be sure, some local aunt who saw him from the window of her house has already informed everyone who needs it. But the absence of a sign does not mean that Mormons in other areas do not report what they have seen. strangers and cars on the street.

Public transport away from the center is very poorly developed, so that the population mostly drives their own cars. There are no pedestrians on the streets. Looting takes place in stores at gas stations and shops, attacks - in parking lots, but this is done by complete idiots and drug addicts, because absolutely everything is under the supervision of video cameras. In the evening they will show it on TV right there. If the police have not already found them, then after the show they often find them right away.

Here is a summary of local life and customs. This, of course, is not all, but I would like to stop here, otherwise it will be difficult to put an end to it.