by VM44 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I attended the International Conventions of the 50's held in Yankee Stadium. I was living in New York City at the time. I can remember Knorr giving the Sunday talk and everyone clapping at the designated moments and anxiously awaiting new books.
We rode the subways and fought the crowds... why? I have no idea... It seems rather silly now that I look back on it.
*sigh* My mother fell in love during one of those.
But I can't even imagine what it must have been like to drive from Washington State to New York (which is what her family did), then spend 8 days sitting in a stadium, sleeping in a camp trailor at night. She always made it sound like quite an adventure, though.
I especially liked hearing the part about her being serenaded at night by a boy sitting outside her little window, playing his guitar and singing Spanish love songs. But I guess that's slightly off-topic
~Merry (of the "looking for love in all the wrong places" class)
If you are going to have people travel 1000s of miles for a gathering it better be for more than a few days and there better be plenty of slop for them to eat.
Arent we fortunate, my brothers, the faithful slave has seen fit to simplify our lives by making shorter conventions. This is indeed a loving arrangement by the goobering body. Indeed, evidently the end is very close at hand.
Perhaps it was to mimic the Passover + Feast of Unleavened Bread.
I thought that too, bennyk. The WTS does say that they pattern the 2 assemblies and 1 convention after the 3 required times to gather in Israel. Interestingly, they forget to emphasize that only the men were required to attend by the Law.
Blondie
The first district convention I ever went to was a marathon 5-day assembly in 1978...that had evening sessions as well. Luckly my mom (who wasn't baptized yet) wasn't insane enough to attend all of them, but I do really at least remember one evening session....
What I remember from that assembly.... (1) Big, bright lights shining in the stadium, (2) long, long, talks about stuff I didn't understand, (3) the evening session, seeing the dark sky in the door that leads outside, (4) noticing how the light from the stadium lights refracts in my eyeglass lenses when I looked at them at an angle, (5) the irritating sound of mass clapping, (6) counting the number of people in the back rows compared to the front rows, (7) The big newpaper supplement section about the convention, (8) receiving My Book of Bible Stories and looking at it in the car going home with a boy from another congregation, and laughing at Aaron's priestly breastplate of precious stones that made him look like a robot...
Greetings!
For all the obvious reasons such "super-Assemblies" were few and rare. My own parents attended the Polo Grounds/Tent City NYC Yankee Stadium Intn't Convention and spoke about the long caravan to New York from NM. I have some photos and 8mm film of the assembly.
I remember fondly the Assembly at the Astrodome in Houston Texas where the My Book of Bible Stories was released, but I am not sure how many days that was. (maybe that was only a 4 day one).
Anyway, pre-1975, the JW culture was entirely different, and to paraphrase Whalen, Armageddon was considered just around the corner. So the material presented met an audience that was much more tolerant and perhaps even eager to hear it.
Since the 1980s, the Society has entered a carousel of regurgitation with nothing new in terms of theology being presented to the flock (except for disgarding of a few cherished doctrines and cultural aspects). The 3-day conventions are already bounding on the verge of unbearable repetition from Day One to Day Three today so I can't imagine how hard it would be to fill 8 days worth of material without being accused of falling into a cultic tactic of mindless rote and ritual.
Having said that, from a social perspective, I always wished the assemblies were longer when I was an active JW. This is because, unless I had a hot start (which only happened a few times for me) it usually took me all of Day One to spot and locate the girl or girls I wanted to meet. Day 2 and Most of Day 3 building up the courage to talk to them and by the Lunch of Day 3 if I was lucky, I finally got a name. If I had had 8 days to work with oh boy that would have been great.
-Eduardo
I remember the stretchers going up and down the aisles carying heat stroke victums during the 8 day fest at the Rose Bowl in 1963. My uncle always had the biggest umbrella at the International/District conventions. One of my earliest memories is my head bouncing off the back of the seat as I caught up on my sleep. I call this the "whiplash boogie" these days.
didnt u guys see the dangling pocket watches??? this was before they were able to lace their magazines with coccaine... so they brainwashed ppl the old fashioned way... sometimes it took eight days
the infamous one
I think it was to test their obedience. They were told to attend at all cost even if it meant losing their jobs.
..and when the sun went down ..
the fun began
unc who enjoyed night assemblies
