"Jolena, do you have any plans for this weekend?" Mariah asked, looking up at her sister, who was sitting on the windowsill. All the dolls had finished pretending to eat their Thanksgiving dinner, and they had put all the food away and washed the dishes.
"Only church on Sunday," Jolena replied. She was looking forward to going with the other dolls who go to church.
There was no school for the dolls on Friday, because it was Thanksgiving weekend.
"We were hoping we could do something together," Charlotte said, "just the three of us."
"That sounds great," Jolena said. I have all day Friday and Saturday, with nothing to do except two homework assignments."
"Emil and I were planning to go to the synagogue (SIN-a-gog) Saturday morning," Charlotte said. "It's easier for The Writer to drive us if we both go at the same time, and Emil and Billy have a gaming date Friday evening with some friends, so we have to go Saturday."
"I don't like to miss noonday prayers on Friday, especially Thanksgiving weekend,"Mariah said. "It sounds like we're all pretty busy for the weekend," she added. She sounded disappointed.
"Maybe we could do something Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon," Jolena suggested.
"I have an idea!" Charlotte exclaimed. "Come with Emil and me to the synagogue on Saturday! You can see what we do and what it's like. You were asking Emil and me about what our worship services are like. It's easier to get an idea if you just come along."
"Then why don't you two come to the mosque (MOSK) with me tomorrow," Mariah suggested, "so you can see what we do there."
All three dolls were happy with that idea. They knew Writer would be willing to drive them to all three places.
The three girls put on their nice clothes the next day. Before they got into the car for the ride to the mosque, Mariah gave her two sisters each a scarf to wear on their heads. She had one for herself, as well.
The mosque was an interesting building with a dome on top. On the very top of the dome was a pole with what looked like a crescent moon.
Before they went into the building, they put their scarves on their heads.
Mariah showed the other two dolls where to leave their shoes before they entered the prayer area. Many other dolls had already left their shoes there.
Then Mariah got a book out of her purse.
In the prayer area, there were lots of other dolls sitting on rugs on the floor. Some dolls were kneeling on the floor, because they had very flexible knee joints that let them do that. (Real people have knee joints that allow them to kneel on the rugs, unless they have a problem with their knees.)
Mariah showed her sisters where they could pick up a book to use. They didn't understand the writing. In fact, they weren't even sure if they were holding their books right-side up, so they just sat down on one of the rugs on the floor and held their books open. They wanted to share as much as they could with Mariah.
During the service, all the dolls sat or knelt on the floor, or sometimes they stood. Someone sang. Someone got up and talked, encouraging them to be kind to each other and to look after any dolls who were in need.
As they listened, they admired the lovely designs on the wall and the big alcove at the front of the room. The designs looked like flowers mixed with the kind of writing that was in the special book they used. Jolena and Charlotte thought it looked unusual, but very pretty.
After the service was over, Charlotte and Jolena put their books back on the shelf, and Mariah put her book back into her purse. Then the three dolls came out, found the car and climbed in. The Writer helped them fasten the seatbelt, so they would be safe.
"That was really interesting," Charlotte said, "and different."
"Yes," Jolena agreed. On the way home, the three friends talked more about how the service different from what Charlotte and Jolena were used to. Mariah answered their questions.
The next day, they put on their nice clothes again and went to the synagogue, as planned. Emil went with them. He sat in the back with The Writer's dogs, where he could listen to what Rocky and Dusty were thinking at each other.
The building was simple and beautiful. On the front was a decoration that looked like a star. "That's the Star of David," Charlotte told them. "It's also called the Shield of David."
"Some synagogues have the Star of David in a stained-glass window," Charlotte explained. "That symbol (SIM-bul) is how you can tell it's a synagogue, and not a church or a mosque. You can see it from the outside, but you can also see it from the inside"
They didn't have to take off their shoes. They didn't have to wear anything on their heads, although some of the boy dolls wore little caps. They sat on benches called pews, rather than on rugs on the floor. The service was different for Mariah, and a little different for Jolena, but not for Charlotte and Emil, of course. They prayed. They sat or stood. They sang. Someone talked to them, encouraging them to be kind to each other and to look after any dolls who were in need. As they listened, they looked around at the lovely windows and the designs at the front of the big room. Mariah and Jolena thought the decorations were unusual, but beautiful.
For the ride home the three girls squeezed into the front passenger seat, and Emil sat in back again. Charlotte answered questions. Sometimes Emil called out a comment from the back seat. They talked all the way home.
Then on Sunday the three girls put on their best clothes again and went to church. There was a big cross on top of the building.
The dolls didn't take off their shoes. They didn't wear scarves or hats, although some of the dolls in the church wore hats. They prayed. They sat on the pews or stood. They could kneel if they wanted to and they had knee joints that were flexible enough, because there were kneeling benches built into the pews. The dolls who didn't have knee joints at all, of course, didn't kneel. They sang some songs. A doll got up and talked for a while, encouraging them to be kind to each other and to take care of dolls who might be in need.
The church had some stained-glass windows, but the designs were different from the windows in the mosque and the synagogue.
Charlotte and Mariah thought the decorations in the church were unusual, but lovely.
On the way home, the three friends talked again, comparing the church service with the other two services they had attended.
"Let's go write down how they are different," suggested Mariah as they came into the house. (Mariah always liked to write things down when she was learning something new.)
Charlotte and Jolena settled down at the table in the work room, while Mariah got a pad of paper. Then Mariah joined them.
"The places where we go to worship are all different from each other," Charlotte began. "What should we write down first?"
"I think the first things I noticed were the symbols used at each place," Mariah said. "The buildings were all beautiful, but they can be anything, while the symbol used to identify each one is special."
"You mean that you have thing that looks like a crescent (KRES-ent) moon," Jolena said.
"Yes," Mariah agreed. "The crescent moon is there to let people know that it is a mosque. Sometimes there's a star between the points of the moon, but the crescent is always there."
"That's like our Star of David," Charlotte pointed out, "the six-pointed star on our synagogue. It lets people know that it's a synagogue."
"Or like the cross on our church," Jolena agreed. "Each place has a different symbol that tells you what kind of building it is!"
Mariah wrote "1. Symbols."
"What we wear can be different, too," Charlotte said. "We girls needed scarves on our heads at the mosque, and in some synagogues the boys wear a kippah. We saw a few at our synagogue.
"Is that the little hat that just covers the top of the head?" Jolena asked, and when Charlotte agreed, Jolena went on.
"I read that girls used to have to wear a hat or a scarf over their heads to church, the way we did at the mosque. I guess we don't do that anymore. I mean, you can wear one if you want, but you don't have to, and speaking of what we wear, we had to take off our shoes in the mosque. We didn't have to take off our shoes in the synagogue or the church."
Mariah wrote down "2. Clothing (head coverings, shoes)."
Charlotte said, "We have pews to sit on, but there were no pews in the mosque."
"We call our benches pews, too." Jolena said. "I was wondering," she continued, turning back to Mariah, "why you don't have pews in the mosque, just rugs on the floor."
"It's because we bow down when we pray," Mariah explained, "chairs or pews would be in the way."
Mariah wrote "3. Where you sit."
"Our pews have kneeling benches attached," Jolena said finally. "You can kneel to pray, if you want, or stand or just sit, if you need to.
The three dolls thought about that.
"The decorations in each place are beautiful, but different," Charlotte said.
Mariah wrote down "4. Decorations."
"I thought of something else," Jolena said. "Our special book is different."
"We have the Qur'an (ker-AHN)," Mariah said.
"We have the Bible," Jolena added. "OK," Jolena added, "so they are called different things, and maybe they say different things."
"Actually," Mariah explained, "some of the writings are the same or almost the same in each of our special books." She reads a lot, so she has learned some things. "A lot of it is different, too."
Mariah wrote down, "Name of special book."
"The music was a little different in each place, too," Charlotte pointed out. It was beautiful at each place, though," she added. "It made me feel...peaceful."
The other two girls nodded. They had the same reaction to the music.
Mariah wrote down "5.Music."
"In each of the services," Jolena went on, "the priest (PREEST) dressed differently."
"Imam (EE-mahm)," said Mariah. "That's what we call the person who gives the sermon. He's the leader."
"We have a Rabbi (RA-bye)," said Charlotte. "It means 'teacher.'"
Mariah wrote down "6. Leader."
"In some churches," Jolena said, "the doll who leads the service and gives the sermon is called a preacher, a pastor or a minister, so what you call her or him can be different from one church to the next." (Jolena travels a lot with the Doll Ski Team, so she has been to a lot of different churches, and she has learned a few things.)
"The dolls who gave the sermons said different things," Mariah pointed out.
"Yes," Jolena agreed. "When they told stories, each one had different stories. They taught different lessons."
Mariah wrote "7. Lessons."
"You know, Charlotte said, "now that you mention it, I thought the lessons were a lot alike. Even though they were different, each one was about how dolls should be kind and care for each other, especially for other dolls who don't have as much or who have difficult lives."
"And each one," Mariah added, "talked about giving thanks for the good things in life, because it's Thanksgiving weekend for all of us."
They were quiet for a few moments, all thinking about that.
"You know," Jolena said, "I think the things that are different are important to each of us because it's what makes us feel comfortable there, but the ways we worship are a lot more alike than they are different. I love that we each have a way to learn and to give thanks!"
All three agreed. They were listing the wrong things. The important things were how the three were alike, not how they were different! They all had to think about that, too.
"Speaking of giving thanks," Charlotte said after they had thought for a while, "I really like that song they sang at the church about being thankful. Can you help me find the music for it? I want to learn to play it. It was all about appreciating what we have." If there's anything Charlotte knows and appreciates, it's music. She knows more about music than she does about anything else.
"It's in the hymnal (HIM-nul)," Jolena said. "I can get it."
"I'll sing along!" Mariah exclaimed.
"I'll hum along!" Jolena added with one of her smiles that almost wasn't, because that's all she can do, since she was made with her mouth closed. Thankful humming is good, too.
"You know, I don't think we need a list," Jolena said, "but I'm glad we made it. It helped us understand better, I think."
Cast--
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Photo of inside of mosque by Ashkan Forouzani on Unsplash
Photo of synagogue, Temple Har Shalom, Park City, Utah, by Jon Scarlet
Photo of inside synagogue by Central Synagogue London from Fitzrovia News
Photo of church: Trinity Episcopal Church, Bend, Oregon, by the author
Photo of stained-glass church window by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Photo of crescent moon on mosque (cropped) by Minator Yang on Unsplash
Crescent moon symbol from Vecteezy.
Photo of Star of David or Shield of David from Jewish Virtual Library.
Cross symbol from Clipart Library.
Doll Kippah available from BedsnBlankies on Etsy.
More information about Islam for children.
More information about Judaism for children.
More information about Christianity for children.
You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.
Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment.
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.
Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook and Emil: Stories from the Doll's Storybook are available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from Barnes & Noble, BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to St. Jude.
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