Lesson video

Hello there.

I am Mr. Robertson and I love RE.

I'm so excited to be with you today in our fantastic lesson all about humanist ceremonies.

And this lesson is part of our unit with a big inquiry question: Humanists: How can you lead a happy and meaningful life? By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain how and why many humanists choose to have ceremonies to mark stages in life.

We have three keywords today.

As always, I will say the keyword first and I'd like you to repeat it back to me.

So our first keyword is connection.

Marvellous.

Our second keyword is celebrant.

Amazing.

And our third keyword is ceremony.

Brilliant.

Quite difficult, but you said them all perfectly.

So what do they all mean? Well, connection is the responsibility and care a person might feel towards somebody or someone.

A celebrant is a person who leads or performs a religious or formal ceremony, such as a wedding or funeral.

And a ceremony is a formal event performed on a special occasion.

By the end of this lesson, you will be really confident with you using all these words.

So our lesson today all about humanist ceremonies has two important questions we're going to answer.

And our first question is this: Why are ceremonies important to humanists? Let's go.

So we're gonna start with Izzy.

And Izzy is thinking about the big question of life.

Good for you, Izzy, because we're being philosophers and we're thinking about really big questions.

Izzy says, "Some animals have different stages in their lives.

For example, frogs have a lifecycle where they change from spawn, to tadpoles, to frogs." Maybe you've already done this in science.

Maybe you've even had some tadpoles at home or in your classroom and seen the way they change and transform into frogs.

Now I wonder, humans are not frogs.

We don't start as tadpoles, do we? But do we have stages in our lives, I wonder? And I wonder what they might be? You might wanna think about this a little bit to yourself, ponder it or talk to someone next to you.

So I wonder what you came up with.

Well, Alex says, "Humans don't change our form, but we do grow up from a baby to an adult.

We might make choices as adults to get married or not, or whether to have children.

Eventually we all die." So he's right, isn't he? So even though we don't have dramatic changes like frogs do, we do change.

We don't just grow bigger, but we have things that we might do as we go through our lives.

And as Alex said, our lives will eventually end as well.

Izzy says, "Many people mark these stages with special ceremonies.

My cousin was baptised when he was born and my uncle got married last year.

His wedding was in huge tent." Wow, that sounds like a great wedding, Izzy.

I wonder if you've had any ceremonies in your family.

Have there been anything that you can remember to mark different life stages? What did you do? Alex is continuing with the conversation.

He says, "I know humanists are non-religious.

That means they don't believe in God.

I wonder if they would still mark stages in life?" Hmm.

What an interesting question, Alex.

Izzy says, "That's a big question.

Would you mark stages in life if you have a non-religious worldview? Let's talk to a humanist and find out more." Brilliant idea, Izzy, you framed a really good question there.

But actually to find this out, we need to talk to some actual humanists, don't we? I wonder what you think though before we move on.

Do you think humanists might mark life stages? And why would they do that? If people don't believe in God, why would they mark these events? So let's meet our first humanist.

Alex meets Diane and Diane has a humanist worldview.

Alex says, "Have you ever had a ceremony to mark a stage in your life, Diane?" Diane says, "Yes, we had a ceremony to mark the birth of our baby, Amy." Oh, how interesting.

So you have had a ceremony.

So we do know that humanists might have some sort of ceremonies.

Here's Diane, Alan and Amy.

Diane says, "When Amy was born, we invited all our friends and family to the local park.

We had a ceremony to welcome her to the world.

In front of everyone we introduced Amy and explained her name meant 'beloved' because she will be loved." Wow, what a beautiful name.

I always think it's so interesting, isn't it? The way names mean different things.

I wonder if you know what your name means.

But isn't that interesting that they had a ceremony in their local park with lots of friends and family? Oh, who have we got here? We've got Tass.

She's a guide parent.

Interesting.

Diane says, "Some friends and family became guide parents.

Because we don't believe in God, we didn't have godparents.

The guide parents made promises to support Amy and help care for her as she grows up.

As humanists, it's important to us that Amy can decide what she believes or does not believe when she's older." Well, again, that's really interesting.

So they still had some people making promises, but they were guide parents, not godparents.

And it's really important to Diane that Amy can decide for herself what she believes.

Let's just check our understanding so far.

I've got a true or false question for you here.

Humanists may mark the birth of a baby, but the ceremony is just for the parents.

Is that true or false? Have a think about what Diane's been telling us about her ceremony for Amy.

Pause the video, have a think.

Excellent.

It's false, isn't it? Why was it false? Well, humanists will often have a ceremony with friends and family and some may become guide parents and make promises.

Well done if you've got that right.

Ooh, isn't that beautiful? What can you see there? I can see a really beautiful tree.

Diane says, "Afterwards, we planted a tree for Amy.

It looks like a heart shape." Yes, it does a bit, doesn't it? "We love to watch the blossom in spring and the bees like it as well.

In autumn, the birds eat the apples.

We feel a connection with the tree and it helps to remember how amazing it is to have a baby like Amy." So isn't that beautiful? So they've also planted a tree.

So that's a lovely thing for Amy to see as she gets older, isn't it? Alex says, "Why would a humanist have a ceremony if they aren't dedicating a baby to God or asking for blessings?" What a great question, Alex.

Diane says, "Because I believe it's important to mark stages in life.

Having a baby is a wonderful thing.

We wanted to share our joy with our friends and family.

We also thought the ceremony created memories and meant people could make promises to look after Amy." So lots of really important reasons there for Diane, wasn't there? Sharing a joy, creating memories and making promises.

Let's see who's correct.

"Only religious ceremonies can be memorable and meaningful," says Izzy.

Alex says, "Non-religious ceremonies can be memorable and meaningful." Who do we think is right? Izzy or Alex? Pause the video and have a think.

Amazing.

It's Alex, isn't it? Non-religious ceremonies can be memorable and meaningful.

We saw how meaningful Amy's ceremony was and what Diane thought about it.

Well done if you got that right.

Alex is asking another question.

He says, "Why are ceremonies so important to humanists, Diane? Diane says, "Having a ceremony is like pausing at a really beautiful place on a journey.

A ceremony helps us to stop and say this moment really matters.

Ceremonies help us to make a connection.

When we introduced Amy in our naming ceremony, I felt a connection between her and all my friends and family.

They all shared the moment." So we're saying it's important because of this idea of connection and because it's really important to mark big events in life.

Let's just check our understanding.

I'd like you to complete the following sentence.

A ceremony is an important moment for humanists to feel a sense of.

Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

It's connection, isn't it? Diane talked about that connection between friends and family, and planting the tree, that connection between that and Amy.

Okay, let's think about everything we've learned so far.

We've been thinking about this question: Why are ceremonies so important to humanists? What I'd like you to do is I'd like you to explain why ceremonies are important to humanists, even if they don't believe in God.

And you want to use Diane's example of her naming ceremony for Amy.

Let's think about some specific things that happened in that ceremony.

There's some pictures there to help you think about it.

What did they do? Who was there? What roles did people play? And I wonder if you could use the word "connection" as well because Diane mentioned that idea of connection as something really important as well.

So can you explain just a little bit for me what happened in that naming ceremony? Why was it important to Diane as a humanist? And how does that word "connection" help link it? Can't wait to see what you come up with.

See you soon.

What a lot of amazing thinking you've been doing.

So you might have said: Ceremonies are hugely important to humanists, helping them mark important events on the journey of life.

We might have talked about Amy's naming ceremony.

Her parents introduced her, didn't they? To their family and friends.

They planted a tree for her.

Some of her friends became guide parents and made promises to care for Amy.

And Amy's parents, when she grows up, want her to decide what she wants to believe.

And we talked about this idea of connection, didn't we? About connection with life and people in it.

Diane talked, didn't she, about feeling really connected to her family and friends during the ceremony? And they also talked about being connected to nature and the tree which they planted for Amy's birth.

If you've managed to make some of those points, you've talked about these ideas of connection, you've talked about the idea of promises and introductions and marking times in life, then brilliant, you've done an amazing job.

The next question we're going to be asking is this: How do humanists mark ceremonies? Look at that photograph there.

Isn't that really cool? I wonder what you can see here.

I wonder what the ceremony might be.

And is there anything else there? Who have we got in this photograph, I wonder? Who could you identify? What different roles do they play? Well, let's find out a little bit more.

Izzy meets with Richard and Richard is a humanist celebrant.

So our first question is, "What is a humanist celebrant, Richard?" And Richard says, "Hi, Izzy.

That's a great question.

A humanist celebrant is someone who is trained to help create and lead ceremonies for people with a non-religious worldview." He says, "I try to create something meaningful for people." So his role is to actually to create and write ceremonies.

How interesting.

He says, "As a celebrant, I've been lucky enough to lead many humanist ceremonies.

A humanist ceremony is often: personally meaningful to the people taking part; celebrates human values such as love and kindness; involves family and friends; is full of meaning and connection; and has symbolic actions like lighting candles, planting trees, or tying ribbons.

And we've seen some of those things, haven't we? In Amy's naming ceremony, because they talked about it being meaningful.

Family and friends were there.

There was lots of connection, wasn't there, between everybody? And there was also symbolic action, wasn't there? Afterwards they planted a tree.

So we can see some of these things or what we've already looked at.

Richard goes on to say, "Humanist ceremonies do not: include religious prayers; mention God; have religious rituals; have a holy book or mention religious beliefs." Now that makes sense, doesn't it? So let's just check what we've learned so far.

Which of these statements is incorrect? In other words, it's wrong.

A: a celebrant lead ceremonies? B: All humanist ceremonies can be different? C: Humanist ceremonies are often personal? D: Humanist ceremonies have a holy book? Which of those does not fit with what we've learned so far today? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

It's D, isn't it? All the features we've looked at so far we've seen, but because it's a non-religious ceremony, we don't have holy books during a humanist ceremony.

Well done if you got that right.

Got another photograph for you here.

I wonder what you can see here.

I wonder what kind of ceremony this might be.

Can it link back to the one we've seen before? Well, I can see some people.

One's in a dress and I think they may have just got married and they look like they're holding a ribbon.

"At this wedding, you can see me." That's Richard holding ribbons up to symbolise the couple joining together in marriage.

Isn't that a fantastic idea? "They wrote the ceremony with me and it was a joyful event in front of their family and friends.

Marking big moments like this is what makes life meaningful." So we've got a beautiful example here of a humanist wedding.

And you can see people have got traditional dress on and suits like they do in all weddings.

We've got family and friends really enjoying it.

And we've got the symbol of the ribbon being held up to symbolise people being joined together.

So Izzy's now asking about humanist funerals.

She says, "What about a humanist funeral, Richard? How are they marked by humanists?" Richard says, "Just like all humanist weddings are different, Izzy, the same can be said for humanist funerals.

Let's have a look at this funeral that I recently led." I wonder what you can see here.

We've got two photographs and I wonder what this might tell us about how humanists mark funerals.

You might want to pause the video and have a really careful look.

What can you see on the left? What do you notice about it? And what can you see written on that card on the right? So you might have noticed that there's some personal messages attached to the coffin.

You can see there what someone's written: "Bo, your colour will still shine so bright.

All your friends are here to celebrate your amazing life.

Miss you forever." We can also see symbols of mushrooms, can't we? We can see a really beautiful coffin and lots and lots of flowers on it.

And it all looks really natural, doesn't it? And really, really beautiful.

So Richard said, "At this funeral, we wanted to celebrate Bo's life.

They loved nature.

So we chose a coffin made from willow." And you can see the beautiful willow there, can't you? "This is a natural product that shows connection to the natural world.

We also put seasonal flowers around it." So you can see that for this person, the natural was really important and nature was really important.

And that beautiful, beautiful coffin is made of a really biodegradable, lovely material and lots and lots of beautiful flowers and nature there as well.

Izzy says, "If humanists don't believe in an afterlife, why would you have a ceremony?" And that's a really interesting question, isn't it? Because we know that humanists do not believe in life after death.

They think this is the one life we have.

Richard says, "Believing this life is all there is makes a ceremony meaningful.

We want to celebrate that person's life and the memories they gave to other people.

It's also important to give family and friends a chance to say goodbye." So even though humanists don't believe there is a life after this one, Richard's saying, actually, that makes it even more important to have a ceremony.

because we want to celebrate that person's life and also give people a chance to say goodbye 'cause it's a sad time, but also a joyful time as well, to celebrate that person.

Okay, let's check what we've heard so far.

I wonder who's got the best understanding of the key features of a humanist ceremony? Izzy says, "Although humanist ceremonies have lots of key features such as being personal and providing opportunities for connection, they're all different." And Alex says, "All humanist ceremonies have key features such as celebrating human values like love and kindness.

This means they're all the same." Who do you think has understood it a little bit better? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

I think Izzy's understood it better, hasn't she? Because what we're saying is there's lots of connections and ideas and similarities with humanist ceremonies, but actually they're all different because they're all about those people and what they want to happen.

So really well done if you got that right.

Okay, we're going to think about our final task now.

I'd like you to help Richard.

Richard, the celebrant has got a new ceremony coming up.

Now you can decide what you would like to focus on.

You might want to focus on the naming ceremony like Diane had for Amy.

You might want to look at a wedding ceremony, we saw the photographs there.

Or you might want to think about a funeral ceremony.

We looked at some ideas of a humanist funeral as well.

I'd like you to think, in the ceremony you've chosen, what would take place in the ceremony and why? What would not take place in this ceremony and why? So think about these case studies.

Think about what we know about humanist beliefs, what things would definitely be part of that ceremony and what things wouldn't be.

You can use the case studies and photographs to help you and obviously use some of your own ideas as well.

You could be as creative as you like and present it how you like.

But think about what we've learned about humanist ceremonies and how they try and make meaningful and happy ceremonies.

Really looking forward to seeing this and what you get up to.

Wow, what a lot of amazing creative work you've done.

So you might have made some big statements, such as: Humanist ceremonies can be led by a humanist celebrant.

We met Richard, didn't we? You might have said things like: Celebrants will create a ceremony that's personal to those people.

You might have said it will be a non-religious ceremony, and so it won't mention God or have religious songs or readings.

You might have talked specifically about the ceremony that you focused on.

You might have talked about weddings and said that they celebrate people being married, that friends and family might be there and that ribbons or other items might show the couple are being married.

And also people might dress up in beautiful clothes and have an amazing time.

For a funeral, you might have talked about celebrating the life of a person and their connection to other people.

You might have mentioned having natural coffins or flowers.

You might have said that, yep, humanists don't believe in an afterlife, but a humanist ceremony, a funeral is really important because they want to celebrate the one precious life of that person and allow people to come there and say goodbye and share memories.

I think you've done a brilliant job there.

If you've managed to think of some of these ideas and bring them together, then I'm really, really pleased and thank you for all the work you've done.

Okay, let's summarise what we've learned in this lesson.

We've been learning all about humanist ceremonies.

We've learned that many humanists believe that having a ceremony to mark different stages in a human's life is important and meaningful.

We've learned that humanist celebrants are trained to carefully design a ceremony that is personal and meaningful.

We've learned that naming, wedding, and funeral ceremonies celebrate the connection of people to each other and the natural world.

And we've also learned that humanist ceremonies will be non-religious and celebrate the one precious life that humanists believe humans have.

Really enjoyed learning about this with you today.

I hope you've learning about this too.

Maybe it'll make you think a little bit more about what ceremonies are important in your life, things that you've done in the past, and things that you might like to do in the future as you get older.

And I look forward to seeing you in a lesson soon.

Thank you very much.