I'm Kemetic, and ergo worship ancient Egyptian deities. By no means do I claim to be any kind of expert about my religion, or know all of the 300+ festivals and numerous deities that my religion has. Keeping that in mind…

There is a festival honoring Sekhmet, where the entire purpose is to drink until you pass out. =D No, seriously. It celebrates the time in Egyptian mythology that Ra gave Sekhmet a TON of wine until she passed out, to stop her from destroying all of humanity. True, you have to make a special offering to the deity in question, but I would love to attend a festival like that. Especially considering that Sekhmet is one of the primary deities that I worship.


Any other odd religious ceremonies or beliefs you know of?

in valencia, there's a festival called “las fallas” (pronounced like fie-yahs, not phallus, which was how this random British couple I met pronounced it, haha) and it's crazy! It all centers on this giant parade called “la oferta de las flores” in which falleras bring special bouquets to a giant Mary statue, and with the bouquets they build a giant Virgin Mary out of flowers!
Also, the other part of Las Fallas is they build these giant statues out of papier-mache (I think… not sure actually) and believe me, they're HUGE and they poke fun at the world/modern issues/whatever the zeitgeist happens to be. Then, on the last day of the festival, they burn all of the statues to the ground! Whee!
I was a fallera! Way back when, in eighth grade!! Good times, good times. I missed two weeks of school to go. ^,^

We Lutherans have this CRAZY thing called “confirmation” where the youth announce their faith, and become accepted adults of the church.

We lutherans are CRAAAAAAZZZZY people.

sorry, didn't mean to make fun of your topic, just couldn't resist saying that.

Those egyptian gods knew how to party.

I am a Discordian. This means I like to cause chaos and disorder in any way imaginable (except for at work). Probably the most entertaining Discordian practice is Operation: Mindfuck. I shit you not, it is a real practice and that IS what it is called. The basic goal of operation mindfuck is to cause chaos and confusion. It is both entertaining and enlightening at the same time.

The Wikipedia article.
More info, cause I seriously doubt you're all gonna believe me…
And a bit more info…

Beltane.
We jump over baelfires and sometimes to symbolic wrestling.
Good times.

Atheist, I celebrate whatever I feel like celebrating in order to have a good time for no other reason than having a good time.

I'm an atheist as well, but I have a personal tradition of going into seclusion for about a week around the time of my birthday so as to avoid having people make a fuss over it being my birthday, which is exactly the sort of undue attention I hate. If I want to be the center of attention, I'll do something to attract it on my own terms. Also this tradition has a lot to do with the fact that I fall into a deep depression that lasts from the moment I realize my birthday is approaching (usually the week before) to an indeterminate date after my birthday has passed.

I'm a buddhist. Yeah.

There's always the Japanese Fertility Festival. (The link contains photos that aren't quite safe for work.)
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/photospecials/graph/060403kanamara/

I'm Chinese but my parents aren't too strict about traditions or beliefs. There are little things though that pop up every so often though. I don't give clocks to people for gifts for example because it's bad luck (sounds similar to “death” I've been told.) When I was young, I wasn't allowed to wear blue hair ties or pins because that too is bad luck. I can't bring anyone who has recently suffered a death in the family or death-related objects (things from a funeral for example.) Right before Chinese New Year, I am suppose to clean up the whole house and when it starts, I can't wash anything.

Probably the most well-known one is the use of the number four and eight. The number four sounds like death so you try to avoid that. But the number eight sounds like good fortune so you want that.

Black_Kitty
Probably the most well-known one is the use of the number four and eight. The number four sounds like death so you try to avoid that. But the number eight sounds like good fortune so you want that.

Japan has that too. Four is “shi” in Japanese, and death is “shi” as well. So when you knock on doors, you are not supposed to knock four times.

Ah superstitions. Ridiculous.

I… I…, I don't do anything. I just live life.

more power to you

Terminal
I… I…, I don't do anything. I just live life.

Emerson would be proud of you.

I party like it's 1999.

ICantRemember
I party like it's 1999.

I don't remember much of a party in 1999. I remember a bunch of computer programmers scaring people, but otherwise it was pretty uneventful.

I'm an atheist who goes to church every sunday. No, I'm not agnostic.

gigatwo
I'm an atheist who goes to church every sunday. No, I'm not agnostic.

I have a friend who is an atheist who goes to church at christmas. She likes the atmosphere and being able to sing songs she knows the words to.

Chameloncholic

gigatwo
I'm an atheist who goes to church every sunday. No, I'm not agnostic.

I have a friend who is an atheist who goes to church at christmas. She likes the atmosphere and being able to sing songs she knows the words to.

Huh. I guess I can understand that. But I can't go into churches because every time I do I have an uncontrollable urge to imitate Southern Evangelist Preachers. And even though I'm really good at it, it tends to offend the regular church crowd.

Chameloncholic

gigatwo
I'm an atheist who goes to church every sunday. No, I'm not agnostic.

I have a friend who is an atheist who goes to church at christmas. She likes the atmosphere and being able to sing songs she knows the words to.

Ha! I find that completely unsurprising. In the case of a professed “atheist” you have someone who cares enough about the bigger ideas of human existence that they seek to define it definitively; they have everything in common with the religious. Usually I find those sorts of people care a bit more about such things… Most strong atheists I've known grew up very religious to start with. They're like those annoying reformed drug addicts sometimes :)
-Like Steven Tyler of Aerosmith… ugh!

Ah well, love and let live, (I like that misquote). However things are and whatever you believe, it's nice to see people share happy times together. ^_^
-I like stay out of all churches myself though, I find them creepy…

I am a worshiper of capitalism. I get up every day, and worship grovelling prostate in a small vestibule called a “cubicle”. Devotions range from sending praising or damning e-mails and following the rigid practices of filling out forms and adding up numbers.

I am a deeply religious, worshiping 8-10 hours a day with my fellow monks. Salvation comes in the form of a slip of paper, which is a blessing of food, shelter, and other devotions involving mixed drinks at the local watering hole.

My religion will shorten my life by approximately a third, and judging by how other clergy are treated, I am within the 5% most blessed worshipers.

mapaghimagsik
I am a worshiper of capitalism. I get up every day, and worship grovelling prostate in a small vestibule called a “cubicle”. Devotions range from sending praising or damning e-mails and following the rigid practices of filling out forms and adding up numbers.

I am a deeply religious, worshiping 8-10 hours a day with my fellow monks. Salvation comes in the form of a slip of paper, which is a blessing of food, shelter, and other devotions involving mixed drinks at the local watering hole.

My religion will shorten my life by approximately a third, and judging by how other clergy are treated, I am within the 5% most blessed worshipers.

The solution is to be self employed.. People are afraid of not having a job at the moment, so they agree to let their “wage slaver” make them into a “wage slave”, take 90% of the money they make by doing their job, and pay them 10% with the FALSE promise to keep paying them even if they don't have any customers to service that month (which is a blatant lie, as then you have layoffs). I saw myself earning an average 200$ an hour for bosses and getting 10$ an hour even before finishing college… now I have less work, but I get 50%/hr and keep all of it to my precious self :)

I don't resent the wage slaver, and hope to be one one day, because I realize that most people are SO AFRAID of the possibility of failure, that without a wage slaver they would be HOMELESS in the street BEGGING for change rather then be self employed.

taltamir
The solution is to be self employed.. People are afraid of not having a job at the moment, so they agree to let their “wage slaver” make them into a “wage slave”, take 90% of the money they make by doing their job, and pay them 10% with the FALSE promise to keep paying them even if they don't have any customers to service that month (which is a blatant lie, as then you have layoffs). I saw myself earning an average 200$ an hour for bosses and getting 10$ an hour even before finishing college… now I have less work, but I get 50%/hr and keep all of it to my precious self :)

I don't resent the wage slaver, and hope to be one one day, because I realize that most people are SO AFRAID of the possibility of failure, that without a wage slaver they would be HOMELESS in the street BEGGING for change rather then be self employed.

The solution is to be self employed? Depends on what you think the problem is. From your statement, you think the problem is not getting enough money. I'm looking at something much more systemic.