Church Lawn Fete/Carnival - a local thing?
 

OK, in the 'burbs of Buffalo, many (usually Catholic) churches hold "lawn fetes" or carnivals every year. Some are bigger than others, but there's pretty much at least 2 held on each weekend throughout the summer (there's just so many that multiple churches have to hold them on the same weekends.) There's rides, food & games, like a fair but on a smaller scale.

Anyway, I know carnivals are common in other regions, BUT:

Ours have gambling tents (pick a number, spin the wheel, roll the dice, etc. along with some poker) and beer tents (mammoth party tents that can hold hundreds of people, serving draft beer in giant plastic mugs along with "hard lemonade" type drinks. No hard liquor though.) There's also always a raffle for a car or $$$, plus "pull tabs", which are kind of like instant lottery-type things (you pull off the paper tab & look underneath to see if you've won $.)

Is this not the usual? I've had friends come in from out of town & they think I'm kidding about these things being held on church property. They've never seen anything like it. To us, it's the norm - I go to 2 or 3 every year, and everyone always knows which one is on which weekend, it's like a huge party. And I'm sure the Catholic Church is raking in the dough on these.

So does this happen anywhere else?

Paula

Oh yeah, they have tons of them here in MA every day during the summer. I used to love them when I was little, but they freak me out now because you never know how safe the rides are. ;)

Not that I would give a dime of my money to the Catholic Church by going, especially in Massachusetts.

I remember this sort of thing in the Catholic Church that I grew up with on the East Coast. I don't see much of it here but then, I don't go to church either. :shrug:

I must've told the story about my first and only time at church where I was excoriated for drinking the grape juice, right? :laugh:

No. Do tell.

When I was a kid, I was invited to a "party" a my neighbors church and was promised all the junk food and soda my little ass could eat. We get there and I have to suffer through an hour of "Bible School." I was ready to hang myself by the time the hour was up. I wanted to know where the freakin' junk food was and I wanted a Pepsi. Then I had to suffer through the sermon. I think I fell asleep for an hour. Then they all lined up down the aisle and ate the "body of Christ," but the "body of Christ" reminded me of a piece of a styrofoam lunch tray. After that, they passed around silver trays of grape juice and I took a little cup of it when it came to my aisle. My neighbors started screaming "NO! You haven't had your COMMUNION!!" and then everyone else started yelling at me. It was horrific and I was already scared to death by the big crucifix with a bloody Jesus on it at the front of the church.

I never went back to a church again.

Damn, rough crowd.....

:lol:

Maria

Oh Catholicism and shame. :lol: After my first communion I promptly walked outside the church in my little miniature bridal outfit and yelled loud enough for everyone to hear to one of my classmates "Hey Jeffrey, didin't that taste like crap?"
Mother was mortified but Daddy didn't say anything. I still have a picture of us outside the church with my dad in his suit and fedora. It was 1971. :o Yup, that religion never made any sense to me, right from the begining.

:lol: :xoxo:

I guess we are two peas in a pod after all. :laugh:

I thought it tasted like grape juice. Everyone was calling it wine and I couldn't figure it out. I was disappointed, too, with the "party." 'Twasn't much. Much ado about a damned continental breakfast. But I guess I shouldn't have expected a block party from the Jesus crowd. :lol:

This is so much fun talking about childhood. :nod:

PS: The scariest thign was Jesus on the cross. That freaked the living **** out of me. No wonder I'm an atheist. ;)

The religious...
 

zealots here are always having something goin' on, But I refuse to attend their "brainwashing" festivals...Or are those things called "revival parties"???

I do annoy 'em with my ever popular Stevie Nicks t-shirts, Since we all know that the ol' "Black dressed one" is a "witch"!!! :lol: :laugh: :lol:

Brian "666!" j.

OMG, remember a few years ago when a Catholic school banned their graduates from using Landslide at their prom because they believed Stevie was a witch trying to turn their kids to the devil? :lol:

Those fairs are fun. We had ours a couple of months ago. ;)

We had a fabulous, gothic style catherdral/church built in the 1890's, complete with huge stained glass windows, marble, statues, lots of candles, etc. It was high on the drama. The place smelled like frankincense. It burned to the ground in the mid 70's.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

A fitting end.

They replaced it with some modern-type church. No architectural integrity, IMO. The worst thing was I had to go back for my mother's funeral. I didn't know the mass anymore so there was this part where you're supposed to shake hands with the people around you. I think my sister was next to me and we shook. Then, someone behind me starts hitting me with their cane. It was my Auntie Kate, who apparently wanted me to shake her hand and was irked that I didn't turn around and do so. She must have forgiven me though, as she remembered me in her will when she passed about two years ago. She and her husband had been married for 50+, had no children and died within weeks of one another. I don't think one could go on without the other. The worst thing about living far away from your large, Irish Cahtolic family is that the only time you get to see each other is at funerals. Anyway, enough with the depressing church talk.

AHHH That's so uncool and harsh of them! That happened at the catholic school i went to. It was part boarding and a lot of our boarding students were from other countries... This guy Bobek and his sister (can't remember her name) were from Iran and didn't know anything about the catholic faith having been raised totally Muslim. Well, at the first mass of the school year, they went up and received communion, but they just held the crackers, and took them back to their seats... didn't eat them and a priest and a layperson (who was a religion teacher) ran up to them and made a big stink in front of the whole school!! I mean how terrible is that? These poor kids who were shipped thousands of miles from home to go to boarding school didn't know what was going on and just thought they had to participate (though most of us didn't since the school was 60% non catholic, myself included) and be part of the school community... and then they are humiliated in front of the whole school for their misunderstanding! 8 years later and i'm still sad for them.

wow the Catholic Churches hear give out wine not grape juice, and they even allow the lil ones to drink it, start em early I guess heh. Anyhoo, yeah they do have carnivals here, but they never sell beer or gamble! that's insane man, I always thought it was against their religion heh, oh well, guess I'l never know, cause I never want to be a Catholic *no offense*

Another thing, this isnt against Catholics, but against those guys in suits riding around on bikes, I think they're Jehovahs Witnesses, correct me if I'm wrong. But ok, they come around our neighborhood about twice a month, we never answer the door, cause if we do, one of us will cuss them out, so we dont wanna be mean lol. Anyhoo, so when we see them coming around, we turn off everything, the tv lights, everything and go hide in the kitchen, cause there is a wall that is blocking the living room where the front door is, from the kitchen, well one time my sister and i peeked out, and they were looking into our windows!!!! WTH!? isn't that like considered harrassment or something?

Yeah, it's good times. I must admit to indirectly contributing to the church through the purchase of mass amounts a draft beer I'm not Catholic, nor do I attend church. They don't really even promote the church at these things at all - it's just like you're at a huge party that happens to be named "Queen of Martyrs Lawn Fete" or "Queen of Heaven Carnival" :lol:

Paula

The Philly suburb I grew up in had (and I think still has) a fair at one of the Catholic churches. It's huge, with big rides & gambling. I went only once, my senior year of high school.
BTW, I think big old churches are some of the coolest buildings around.

- Jake