It is very common for Latin children to ask their parents (mainly mothers) for a blessing before walking out the door. If it's not the children asking, the parents (again, mostly mothers) are chasing their offspring to the door to stop them and have them "take their blessings".
I was not brought up that way, but I remember visiting my great aunt Margarita and having her go thru the ritual of making several signs of the cross on to each person before walking out of her home. -- She was a devout Catholic who crucified my mom for changing religions but had no problem rubbing a Buda's belly for luck. That thought still makes me laugh.
What I did grow up with is saying a prayer before taking a trip. My grandmother taught us to recite one of two psalms (#23 or #121). I still continue to do it; thought I just now realized I don't do it when I travel with my husband. Hmm...
The one thing I do is send my husband off to work, not with a blessing or signs of the cross but with an affirmation. I say "COME HOME TO ME SAFELY". It has been my way to voice out to the universe/ask God to give him a safe trip. We both commute to a different city for work and it is a long drive!
My husband and I are of different religions. I don't particularly claim any one religion at the time. I was born in to a non-practicing Catholic home, converted to Seventh Day Adventist in my teens and have been without religion since my mid 20's. I have peeked in to a few religions over the years and the one that fulfills my needs and gives me the most meaningful connection has to be the Native American church. (To each its own I say, just be good at heart!)
I don't know why I don't pray when I travel with my husband, though I recall us visiting my grandmother and standing still with her in prayer for a safe journey home. Perhaps it's because I pray in Spanish that I don't go thru my "ritual" of reciting a "traveler's" psalm. I don't know, but it's something I will have to think about.
In the mean time I will continue to send my husband off to work with my own version of a blessing. "Come home to me safely".
You did a good job writing that post. Nicely done.
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