Humanist NAMING CEREMONIES
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Description
A Humanist naming ceremony is an opportunity to welcome a new life into the family, the community and the world.
These ceremonies are ideal for families who want to mark the occasion in a way that isn’t religious.
Humanist naming ceremonies are a joyful yet significant way to declare publicly your love and commitment for your child and to gather together with family and friends to celebrate your child’s birth.
A naming ceremony also provides the opportunity for those gathered to reflect the roles that key people will play in the life of the child, and, if you wish, to appoint Guide Parents.
A Guide Parent is someone you invite to have an enduring relationship with your child.
They could be considered to be the non-religious equivalent of a ‘godparent’, in that they make promises to a child during a naming ceremony. Click here to read more about humanist naming ceremonies. For more information on the process, please read our FAQs below.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
No two naming ceremonies are the same. Each one is a reflection on how a child’s parent/s wish to mark their little one’s arrival into the world. They might include music, singing, poems, readings, parental promises to their child, the appointment of ‘Guide Parents’, and perhaps a symbolic action such as giving a special gift to the child, including siblings, wish jars, memory boxes/memory books or signing a certificate. I can provide support and guidance about what material to use and work with you to plan every aspect of your naming ceremony.
It’s up to you! Naming ceremonies are becoming increasingly popular in a range of settings such as people’s homes and gardens, public parks, community centres, woodland, restaurants and hotels.
I generally recommend that naming ceremonies don’t last for more than 20/30 minutes, in keeping with the attention span of any younger people present.
I will go through options regarding format, readings, pledges and vows for parents and Guide Parents, symbolic elements, music and anything else that’s needed. Thereafter, you will have fun picking and choosing what content you’d like and after that I will assemble the first version of your unique ceremony. Thereafter we will bat it over and back until you have the completed ceremony you want.
Again that’s up to you. The naming ceremony sets the tone for the day and most people like to continue afterwards to celebrate with family and friends. Quite often guests bring along food and cakes with this in mind. If there are a lot of children, activities are often organised for them.
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