What is a Life Celebrant?

With over half  of the UK population now self-describing as "non religious", free from the confines of "hatch match and dispatch"  we finally have some more choice about how we celebrate life's defining moments. 

All of this change - which if you think about it has only occurred in the past 50 years after 1500 or more years of Christianity - produces some confusion. There are so many terms bandied around Secular Celebrant, Civil Celebrant, Humanist or Life Celebrant. What's the difference?

My name is Marianne Kavanagh and I am a Civil Celebrant but I prefer to call  myself a Life Celebrant because  I write and perform  ceremonies for every significant moment in life; weddings, namings and funeral ceremonies.

Funerals or end of life ceremonies are centred on the life of the person who has died. Most Celebrants perform life centred ceremonies, but what is the difference between a Civil Celebrant and a Humanist Celebrant? Below are the differences to consider when looking for a Celebrant to perform a ceremony for your loved one.

A Civil Celebrant is somebody who is trained by a professional organisation to write and deliver weddings, naming and funeral ceremonies. Civil Celebrants will add or leave out religion if required. Hymns and prayers can be included in a funeral ceremony led by a Civil Celebrant and the ceremony will be centred around the life of the deceased. A Civil Celebrant may or may not have a personal religious belief or could be an atheist, but this won’t be apparent in the ceremony. Spiritual and personal beliefs of the deceased can be included into the ceremony, as can a reflective period during which mourners are given the chance to say a personal prayer or share a thought for the deceased. Any choice of music can be played at a funeral ceremony led by a Civil Celebrant.

A Humanist Celebrant is somebody who is trained by a professional organisation to also write and deliver weddings, naming and funeral ceremonies. Humanist Celebrants are non-religious and believe in life centred funerals, and won’t generally include any hymns, prayers, readings, poems or anything mentioning religion or referring to an existence after death and which may be considered an act of worship. Humanists do not believe in any kind of after-life and believe death is the end.

There is often a misconception that a non-religious funeral is a Humanist funeral, but this isn’t always the case. A Humanist funeral has no religious content at all. The presence of a cross, or any other religious objects, religious music and saying ‘Amen’, won’t be seen or heard during the ceremony.

A Secular Celebrant is similar to a Civil Celebrant in believing that equal rights for people of religious and atheist views are observed on an individual basis. A Secular Celebrant is also trained by a professional organisation to write and deliver weddings, naming and funeral ceremonies. Religion can be included in their ceremonies if required by the family or the wishes of the deceased person. It is usually the choice of the individual Celebrant as to whether they refer to themselves as a Secular or Civil Celebrant.

When planning a funeral, celebration of life or memorial ceremony, it is important to the memory of the deceased and to their family to honour personal beliefs.

All Celebrants believe the ceremony should be about the person and everyone of us will work with the family to produce a personal and life centred ceremony relevant to that person.