If you and your family were churchgoers when you were a child, did you still go to church/mosque/synagogue etc. when you were off on holiday or otherwise away from home ?

[WildRosie]

Just that really. I'm not seeking to make a point or be nosy, it's simply idle curiosity before I head off to the kitchen to do the washing up!

I guess it depends on the strength of one's faith and its individual importance. There will be those who regard holidays as a break from routine, including attending a place of worship, and those for whom worship is preferable whenever and wherever, if not negotiable.

I've just had a memory surface of being taken by my Granny to a beach ministry in Millport one summer, there was no escape even at the seaside!

Yes, every week, no Sundays missed.

We didn't when I was a child, but now I have a family we try to attend a synagogue if there's one where we are going.

Yes, catholics weren't allowed to miss mass unless very extenuating reasons so we always went wherever we were.

I feel slightly guilty that my children rarely go despite us calling ourselves Catholics.

It was the first question my parents always asked the travel reps!

That’s so weird @WildRosie, I was just thinking about this the other day. I (Catholic attending a Catholic school) went to PGL with my school over 20 years ago and we had to miss activities on Sunday so we could go to mass as a class. I was furious haha - we never went to mass on holiday and any other time for that matter. Interesting my dad has become more religious and goes every Sunday without fail.

DH is a secular Muslim and we went for a look around a mosque but didn’t pray - just a look as it was an old one.

Gosh yes - also Catholic and have very fond memories of going to the nearest church to the caravan site. They didn't have an organist, there was a tape player! And I'm sure mass was in Latin, even though our home mass was in English by then - would that be right?

My Gran used to say that if you couldn't find a Catholic mass the next best thing was Greek Orthodox, but we never tried that out.

I didn't grow up in a religious family but one thing was praying five times a day (not praying as in supplicating but the 5 daily prayers in Islam).
That is part of life naturally so it is done wherever. Men have to go to the Masjid but women can pray at home which is easier so if we're travelling then one can just pop into any Masjid usually or find a place to pray anywhere really. We've prayed in car parks, train stations and alsorts.
The Masjid is mainly for the five daily prayers/unity where people of any ethnicity, the richest and the poorest stand side by side in prayer to God. But practising Islam is 24/7 so whether we're washing hands before eating, greeting others etc it is all a form of worship, invoking peace and blessings.
Basically it's not like eg going to Church on a Sunday. Although there is the Friday prayer (called Jumu'ah), every prayer every day us important so typically the males will head to the Masjid whilst we just prayed at home which was fine as travelling is tiring and we would just get a prayer mat out and pray. Have also prayed on the airplane on the way to Makkah. They have a prayer room right at the back which is curtained off. For Muslims, if we don't perform our five daily prayers then what use is going through the entire pilgrimage? Prayer will be the first thing we will be asked about on the day of judgement so airport, airplane, field, wherever, if it's time for prayer we had to pray. Also didn't feel forced to as a kid. We learn that pleasing God means going to Paradise and the second pillar of Islam is prayer. It is quite natural and felt quite comforting as a child.

We spent quite a few holidays in the village where my Dad grew up, so yes, when we went there, we would go to his 'home Church'.
However, we didn't if we went on holiday to other places.

I don't, as an adult, when we go away either. I think a lot of this is that normally it is the first day of the holiday, so we are itching to get on the beach. If Sunday were the 4th, or 5th day of the holiday week, then I might well do. So, when my sister and I were backpacking, we did go to some services in different countries, yes.

Also yes - as adults/parents we pray the five daily prayers, which can be prayed anywhere but DH will go to the Masjid in the area.
At the moment there are a lot of hours for th second prayer of the day so eg we can be away from home for work/a day trip etc and still get home before 6:30pm and perform the prayer at home. In winter a few of the prayer times are during the day so will pray at work or a Masjid nearby.

Like lots of pps, this also takes me back to my parents finding out when the mass was at the nearest church. God, I'd forgotten all about that pleasure. Usually we were in France so no way to avoid a Catholic church.

Don't do any of that now but still like a good old cathedral. And enjoyed a Latin mass in St Peter's once as an 'experience'.

As a Muslim I pray anywhere and everywhere. I have a travel prayer mat which has been all over the world with me, I stop and pray wherever we are when it’s prayer time.

I try and be discreet and perform the prayers out of the way.

If I ever come across a mosque in my travels I always go in and offer prayers.

Do any of the practicing Muslim who’ve posted perform travel prayers or do you still pray 5 times per day?

We used to go to mass wherever we were in the world (Catholic) and holidays were normally in Western Europe, so easy to find one. Looking back it was probably one of the most effective immersive cultural experiences you could do to ‘live like a local’. The community would often ask us to be involved in the service and then invite us for tea or lunch afterwards.

This is something I continue to do as an adult. Travelling around Latin America in my 20s, by going to the local village church in some remote location I could immediately plug into the community there and have a sense of belonging.

I grew up in a devout Catholic family, and on the rare occasions we were away from home, we always attended mass. It wouldn’t have occurred to my parents not to.

I’m an atheist.

On family holidays, no, as my family were not religious. But there was one memorable girl guide trip to Switzerland where we had to go to church. I think the leader spoke German but most of the girls had no clue what was going on! Felt terribly boring at the time but now I look on that memory with fondness. For myself as an adult, I wouldn't normally attend church on holiday but I do like to look around churches and stop in the quietness, and if we're in a cathedral town I might attend choral evensong.

Yea we did but our family holidays were always back to Italy to visit relatives and both my grandmas would have wanted to go to church/church is where you bump into everyone you know to say hi to.

We always went to church in the town in which we were staying if were there on a Sunday or Holy Day of Obligation .So we went in Spain, Italy , France etc

Yes we did. We went to the Methodist church every Sunday morning and then when we were on holiday at the seaside my mum and grandma would find the local Methodist church there.

But no I'm now totally lapsed and haven't been to church in probably 12 or 13 years.

Sometimes, pre-Covid, when I was trying to keep the family to the routine. Have had some lovely services and met interesting people.

Less so these days as we can stream our own church via YouTube!

Thank you to the Muslim posters explaining prayer from their perspective, it's interesting.

It varied, and depended on where we were. I have a fairly detailed memory of attending a service and joining in with the Sunday School at St David's Cathedral one Sunday in the early 1980s when we were on a camping holiday nearby. We were taught a few "comedy" religious songs one of which was shockingly racist but I don't think I have heard it again since, I just have a really good memory for songs. (I wasn't shocked by it at the time, it is only with my adult brain several decades later that I realised). But I think that was the exception rather than the rule as I don't remember other similar occasions on other holidays.

I don't usually go to church while on holiday now unless I am away at Christmas or Easter. I did go to church one holiday when we were staying in a sleepy cornish village and I happened to wake up early and the rest of the family were dead to the world and I heard the church bells announcing there would be a service shortly so I moseyed along and was very glad I did, but I don't make a habit of it.

My dad was a CoS minister. We did NOT go to church on holiday 😂

Interesting thread!

I grew up in a non-religious family, but always enjoyed going to services at a Catholic church when I stayed with my Grandmother. I have another very warm memory of going camping with a school friend and her parents and some other members of their church (Baptist) and everyone getting together in a gazebo on Sunday for some sort of service. I remember that no one had wine so coca cola was used instead, much to everyone’s amusement. Then more lovely memories of attending services at a friend’s Romanian Orthodox church.

I ended up going through a CoE religious phase in my teens, before settling on agnostic!

Thanks op for this thread. It's brought back many lovely memories. I was brought up a Catholic and we went every Sunday without fail. It was a lovely time when we put our best clothes on and all trudged up a big hill with other families. A proper community feel. After we would all go in the club. Us kids would be given orange cordial and a bag of salt n shake crisps and have a run around. It was great.
When we went on holiday we always found a church whether in Blackpool or Benidorm.
I remained a Catholic til about 3 years ago. Now I don't believe but am going to do some self reflection and see if this is the way forward for me.
Ironically, I was happier believing because I believed in Eternal Life ; never feared dying because I would see my mum again. Now I don't believe any of it and am scared of dying.