Harold John Blackham, who was born in 1903 and who died at the age of 105 in January 2009, was a great Humanist. As one of the founders of IHEU, it is only fitting that we pay him our respects in this issue. Coincidentally, this issue takes a look at that we planned just now to look at Humanist ceremonies in different parts of the world.

According to anthropologists, ceremonies, religious and otherwise, have existed all through the ages amongst both very large groups and more intimate clans. The ceremonies evolved with the social environment in which they were created, but they survived through time. Every era, every culture, celebrates important events in life and every ceremony, even the very religious one, has a material explanation. Although a lot of Humanists and atheists are convinced that reason and emotion cannot co-exist, ceremonies have become a part of everyday life for many of them, as described in the accounts of celebrants from various countries. These are just examples; it doesn’t mean that only these ceremonies exist. As we can read in the article on the situation in England and Wales: “After all, performing these rituals is one of the defining features of what it means to be human. There will always be ceremonies.” The big difference from religious celebrations is the personal approach. The input of those participating is creative: a wedding ceremony is always prepared together with the couple, they decide what will be essential and what not; the children perform, sing, dance… at the coming-of-age ceremonies, the relatives and close friends decide what music, what texts, what poems, what testimonies will be read the celebrants just help them to bring in the personal touch the highlights and meaning of one’s life. It is a way of expression, of explaining our lifestance, what values we cherish.

At ceremonies we show our solidarity with the other, we mourn, are happy, promise to help our friends. We are a community and we make our social network a part of our feelings. It is the moment indeed “to say important, very important, things to each other. In ceremony, we say things that we cannot say well outside of ceremony” as you can read in one of our articles.

This is where emotions come in.

Of course we are rationalists and that is fine as long as we do not forget that we do have feelings and that they are important in life. Each year I am present at several coming-of-age ceremonies and every time I have a strong feeling of responsibility for all those youngsters, starting the difficult time of adolescence neither children nor yet grown ups. I wish to show solidarity with them, to tell them that they are not alone with their feelings of uncertainty, of rebelling against adults who don’t see that they are no longer children, with their doubts about life, and demonstrate to them that all those adults who have come to celebrate will stand by them no matter what happens. It is important to make a note of the important moments in a human’s life. Everybody is doing that. And a lot of people want to do this in the company of relatives and friends. Ceremonies can add value to those moments as long as they do not become obligatory or empty boxes where nobody is interested in the content of what is said, where neither the beauty of the occasiond nor the shared sadness is taken into account. When ceremonies become just traditions and nothing more, when they cannot raise warm feelings, then it is better not to have them. But when traditions are respected in a way adapted to society in which they are held, they can contribute to a better life.

Sonja Eggerickx is President, IHEU