I checked a sample of a few dozen temples in the US yesterday and found that all (with one exception) were open, even though it was Juneteenth. The one exception, Provo City Center, has been closed all month, presumably for deep cleaning. By contrast, every US temple I checked is set to be closed on July 4th.
I posted about this on Facebook, and some of my friends made some interesting points:
- Church employees have a holiday on Juneteenth. (It appears, for example, on the list of closed days for the Church History Library.)
- BYU also observes Juneteenth as a holiday.
- The state of Utah moves its Juneteenth observance to a Monday if June 19th isn’t a Monday.
The Monday point is particularly an interesting one because other holidays in the US (e.g., Veterans Day) are also often observed on a Monday, depending on which government entity or other organization is doing the observing. I couldn’t find a compiled list of which other states might do something similar with Juneteenth. (Wikipedia says New Jersey observes it on a Friday, but it doesn’t indicate that Utah observes it on a Monday, so its list is clearly incomplete.) If temples were closed for Juneteenth on Monday, there would be virtually no observable difference from a business-as-usual schedule, as Monday is a day that temples in general are typically closed.
I wonder if it isn’t each temple president’s decision about how to handle holiday closures. I say this because I’ve seen varying ways temples handle some holidays. For example, last Halloween, some Utah temples had their usual schedule of endowment sessions, while others ran on a reduced schedule. And on December 30th (the last open day of the year because the 31st was a Sunday), some had reduced schedules and at least one closed entirely.
It wouldn’t be surprising if temple presidents, who are old and (I’m guessing) mostly white, don’t consider Juneteenth a very big deal, especially given that it was only made a federal holiday in 2021. Heck, temple presidents probably include at least a few Trumpists, who likely consider Juneteenth an insult to all that is good and decent in the world for bringing up white people’s mistreatment of black people. I think it’s a pretty bad look for the Church, though, to not close temples to allow or encourage workers and patrons to celebrate the end of slavery. This goes extra given our long history of banning black people from the temple.
Actually, the most appropriate use of the day would have been to perform saving ordinances for people who had been enslaved during their mortal lives.
Why should they close? I immediately want to know how they handle Veterans Day (as a federal holiday) and Pioneer Day (for Utah temples). I have never heard of Veterans Day being celebrated on alternate days, only as 11/11. The official church website’s temple schedule section seems to be down right now, but I thought in the past the London temple specifically opened on Bank Holiday Mondays for ease of patron access. I think Juneteenth and Veterans Day are appropriate holidays to remain open.
I am in favor of the holiday.
That’s a fair point, LauraN. I just feel like the contrast with July 4th is striking. For white people’s independence day, temples close, expecting patrons (and allowing workers) to celebrate with their families. For black people’s independence day (not a precise parallel, but close), they’re open. Workers don’t get time to spend with their families.
HokieKate, I have records for Utah temples last year, and I don’t see any that were closed for Veterans Day other than those that were closed that entire week. For July 24th, I believe Utah temples are generally closed, but last year it was on a Monday, so they were going to be closed anyway. I checked a few for this year, and it looks like they’re closed for that day.
Actually, Mount Timpanogas Temple was closed on Juneteenth…. And not as part of a longer closure for cleaning etc. I think it was the only one closed for that one day in Utah County. It showed as a closure on the official online temple calendar.
Oh, that’s great to hear, Eileen. If at least one was closed, that does seem to me to be evidence that it’s a local decision rather than dictated from Salt Lake.
When the Washington DC temple’s district was larger, though usually closed on Mondays, the temple would open on Monday federal holidays. Government employees are the only people I know of who get Columbus Day and Veterans Day off (which like Independence Day and Juneteenth are federally observed on fixed dates which are not usually Mondays); even public schools treat those two as normal instruction days. Slightly related, I have a memory of being in the St. George temple baptistry around 1979 on a Saturday morning while General Conference was happening in Salt Lake City. Before the satellite dishes, it was just another Saturday 270 miles from the Mormon Tabernacle.
The Boston Temple was usually open on Veteran’s Day (which is always on November 11 or the closest work day to it; it is not one of the “Monday” holidays). The reason was that since most students in the area had no school and many adults had no work, it was ideal for youth baptism trips. My stake in upstate NY frequently organized a youth temple trip on Veteran’s Day, and if there was room, invited adults to join them. At one point it was announced that the Temple would be open on specific Monday holidays (President’s Day was one, I think) for the same reason–both youth and adults were available and free to serve. I got the feeling that this was a “trial run,” so to speak, to see what kind of turnout they had. Oddly, my husband–a Vietnam-era veteran–became very annoyed when his university failed to close for Veteran’s Day, feeling that was an insult to veterans. On the other hand, a public library trustee many years and miles away later was upset when the library closed on Veteran’s Day, because all veterans should have regular access to all library services and that’s how we honored them! The moral, of course, is that no matter what you do someone will be offended and unhappy.
Thanks, everyone, who corrected me on Veterans Day. For some reason I had it in my head that it was pushed to Monday, but from a little searching, it looks like some organizations close on the next Monday if November 11th falls on a weekend, but the holiday is still November 11th. I don’t know if it was that I was misremembering or if I was mixing it up with a different holiday.
Several years ago I came across a line of our family tree that was African American, and further digging revealed no blood relations, simply the same last name (guess who they got it from), as after they were freed from slavery, they adopted it. I’m not related to blood to the family who held others in bondage, as I’m adopted, but I have felt that my work for my kindred dead included their formerly enslaved name-sharers. I’ve currently done all the work I can for them, but if I had been able to do more, Juneteenth would have felt like an appropriate, special day to do it. The celebration of freedom can extend across the veil 🙂
Since when is Independence Day in the US (July 4) “white people’s independence day”? It’s Independence Day (or more accurately Declaration of Independence day) for the entire USA. The declaration was intended for the whole country. Everyone, everywhere. Yes, slaves were not freed by such declaration of independence from the King of England/Great Britain. But black freeman were included. Black freemen took an active part in the Revolutionary War; arguably the first death/martyr was a Black freeman (Crispus Attucks). What is now celebrated as Junteenth is the date at which all the final slaves were nominally freed in Texas, the last state in which that was accomplished. Slaves were nominally freed (as in slaveholders finally gave in) on different dates in other states, and various parts of some states (groups of counties implemented it at various times in Tennessee).
You are also out of line for comments that Trump supporters might be upset about Junteenth as a holiday. You are much too into partisan politics, and assign undesireable characteristics to those you oppose politically. The entire state of Arizona held off on MLK Day, not because the state had any issues with MLK, but that it was another paid holiday, not budgeted for, so that the State would either have to take funds from other State activities or raise taxes; AZ asked what other Federal holiday they could not honor.
Thanks for the points about maybe doing temple work for enslaved ancestors on Juneteenth might feel especially appropriate. I can see this argument, but I’m also suspicious of a defense of the status quo where we just change our reason for doing the same thing. Temples have always been open for Juneteenth, and now they’re open for Juneteenth, but for a new reason.
Cheute, you think I’m out of line with my comments about Trumpists because it’s false or because it’s rude to point out? Because it’s obviously true. Racism is one of the core values of Trumpism. Also, I’m not persuaded by your “but the Declaration of Independence freed some black people too” argument against July 4th being white people’s independence day. This was the same government that had a huge fight 13 years later about how to properly fit slavery into the Constitution.
Ziff, obviously you and I, and my Black and hispanic Pro-Trump/MAGA friends (BTW, I am not a Trump fan, and I see almost no difference between Trump and Biden, except perhaps by degrees) cannot agree, and may not be able to be friends. I have not seen any more evidence of racism as a Trump value than I have from Democrats, but I am open to looking into any propsed evidence; this does not apply to very small groups or single individuals, as I have seen and recognize that some individuals and small groups of people on both sides of the binary divide who are racist.
Cheute, I find it honestly hard to believe that you have no sense of Trumpists as racists. Trump has been in the public eye as a politician for over a decade, and it has been one of his defining characteristics. I’m guessing you’re asking this so you can say “gotcha” and show me your convoluted definition of racism that somehow omits Trump and his disciples. But on the off chance you’re sincere, do you remember “build the wall” and calling for “a total and complete shutdown” of Muslims coming into the US? Those are straight up racist ideals covered with the barest cloak of ideas about border security. Did he call for a shutdown on fundamentalist Christians coming? For a wall to keep those troublesome Canadians out? Of course not! Such people are more likely to be white, and therefore okay in his book.
I also find it a little bizarre that you want me to accept your anecdotal data (your Black and Hispanic Trumpist friends) but you don’t want to hear anecdotal information from me. How about this, then? Here’s a Pew survey that shows Trump voters are racists. For example, only 27% agree with the pretty uncontroversial statement that “The legacy of slavery affects the position of Black people in American society.”
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/06/06/racial-attitudes-and-the-2024-election/
Thinking more broadly, too, your enlightened centrist position of seeing “almost no difference” between Biden and Trump is dangerous nonsense. Don’t you remember Trump constantly praising dictators and musing about how the US would maybe have a president for life? Don’t you remember him kowtowing to his hero, Putin? Don’t you remember him calling for the 2020 election to be postponed? Don’t you remember him calling his white supremacist friends to attack the US Capitol to prevent the election results from being certified? Biden is far from my favorite president. He’s decidedly mediocre. But he’s not trying to turn the US into an autocracy. Please step away from the malarkey of enlightened centrism where you see both sides as equally bad, and stand with those of us who correctly see Trump as an existential threat to the country. We’d welcome your help.
I am certainly a Biden supporter and not a Trumpist…but in any case I do see July 4th as important to the whole nation and the whole idea of the nation,while Juneteenth is more a day of regional significance than of national (the ratification anniversary of the 13th Amendment would be a better choice for celebrating the end of slavery than the day news of emancipation eventually reached parts of Texas).
That’s a fair question, Louis E. I feel like now that Juneteenth has been made a federal holiday, it’s the obvious choice to focus on to celebrate liberty for black people even if there are arguments to be made that a different day would be better.