The Endowment Ritual

Synopsis

The endowment ritual is essentially instruction on how to gain access to the highest level of heaven. Here is the official, canonical explanation (opens a new tab) from the LDS Church.

The ritual is a ceremony that only qualified members are allowed to partake in. He or she will go once for him- or herself, and then later will go for someone who is dead, acting as a proxy. Members are expected to keep this ceremony secret, which also precludes discussing it amongst each other.

Members who are going for themselves begin alone with the initiatory ritual. Then they gather in an auditorium inside the temple and watch a video presentation on a Mormon version of the Garden of Eden story. As the story progresses, they will don ritual clothing and later learn covenants they are expected to consent to.

The covenants are associated with a secret word, handshake, and hand signal–in other words, a name, token, and sign. Like the freemason ritual of The Entered Apprentice it is based off, the signs are a pantomimed version of suicide. Today members will likely disagree with the claim of suicide because the ritual has been meticulously and frequently changed over time; nonetheless, the signs still require hand placement where the suicide motion should begin.

Finally, once the names, signs, and tokens are learned, the audience will be taken up to a curtain, where they will recite the names and demonstrate the tokens they learned. For the members, this is in order to prepare for entering heaven. After they have succeeded, they will pass through the curtain, known as "the veil," and go to another room called the Celestial Room where the ritual concludes.

Presentation

In every temple but the Salt Lake Temple and Manti Temple since the early 20th century there has been a film version of the instruction. Otherwise it was a live re-enactment acted out by temple workers. The films have been remade over time and it has been a focus to have 2 versions playing on any given week.

As you can see when you watch the current version, there is a lecturer audio recording before, during, and after the film.

Names, Signs, Tokens

There are 4 tokens, or handshakes, that have an "accompanying name and sign." The name is a code word that should be memorized by the participant and recited at the veil. These code words will be asked at the gates of the highest area of heaven, the Celestial Kingdom.

You can observe this instruction in the film starting at minute 53:30

The First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood

The token is a handshake, made by placing the pointer on the other hand's pointer finger knuckle.

The name is different for everyone. Each participant is assigned a new name to keep secret. The generation of the name is based on a simple algorithm.

The sign is raising the right hand to the square with the thumb extended. From earlier versions, the penalty associated with revealing this token is pantomiming the thumb across the throat and slitting one's throat from ear to ear.

The Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood

The token is a handshake, made by placing the pointer between the other hand's pointer finger and middle finger knuckles.

The name of the sign is always the first given name of the participant.

This sign is made with the right hand in front in aa cupping shape, the right arm forming a square. The left arm is "raised to the square." The penalty is to slash yourself across your chest.

The First Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood

The token is a handshake. The participant will keep their hand out and vertical while the person behind the veil places their thumb and pointer finger on each side of the palm, to symbolize a nail going through it.

This time, the penalty moves to slashing one's stomach so the intestines fall out. Thus the sign is made by cupping the left hand in front, with the right hand's thumb extended

The Second Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood

The token is a handshake, made by interlocking pinky fingers and extending the pointer finger onto the other person's wrist. This is very important, being the highest token which is used in the "true order or prayer."

The name of the token is "the Son."

After completed the first 3 signs, the sign for this token is no longer a penalty. It is made by raising the hands above the head and bringing them down while saying "O God, hear the words of my mouth." This must be repeated 3 times total. Before the change in the 1990s, the words were "Pay-lay Ale," which was claimed to be the same phrase in the language of God.

Problems with the endowment

Many people have expressed concerns with the morality and history of the endowment which you can read about here