In Mormonism, the endowment is a two-part ordinance (ceremony) designed for participants to become kings, queens, priests, and priestesses in the afterlife. As part of the first ceremony, participants take part in a scripted reenactment of the Biblical creation and fall of Adam and Eve. The ceremony includes a symbolic washing and anointing, and receipt of a "new name" which they are not to reveal to others except at a certain part in the ceremony, and the receipt of the temple garment, which Mormons then are expected to wear under their clothing day and night throughout their life. Participants are taught symbolic gestures and passwords considered necessary to pass by angels guarding the way to heaven, and are instructed not to reveal them to others. As practiced today in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the endowment also consists of a series of covenants that participants make, such as a covenant of consecration to the LDS Church. All LDS Church members who choose to serve as missionaries or participate in a celestial marriage in a temple must first complete the first endowment ceremony.
The celestial room represents the highest level of heaven in LDS theology, and is reached after passing the testing portion of the endowment ceremony.
Woman's endowment clothing circa the 1870s, from an illustration in Mark Twain's Roughing It.
The temple garment underwear Mormons wear daily after receiving them during their initiatory ceremony
The Telestial Room of the Salt Lake Temple, where part of the instruction occurs
Ordinance (Latter Day Saints)
In the Latter Day Saint movement, an ordinance is a sacred rite or ceremony that has spiritual and symbolic meanings and act as a means of conveying divine grace. Ordinances are physical acts which signify or symbolize an underlying spiritual act; for some ordinances, the spiritual act is the finalization of a covenant between the ordinance recipient and God.
Robes of the Nauvoo endowment, c. 1870s
Baptismal font in the Salt Lake Temple, c. 1912, where baptisms for the dead are performed by the LDS Church
Image: LDS Baptism Panama
Image: LDS Baptism Panama