In all cultures, at all times, human beings have celebrated the great turning points of life in their rites-of-passage. In Norway, the Norwegian Humanist Association offers to assist those who wish to celebrate/mark birth, coming of age, marriage or death in a non-religious way.
The traditional way of greeting a new-born child in Norway was to baptize, the baby thus becomes a new member of the State Church. However, the number of church baptisms has dropped during the last decade. Some of the reasons are expanding secularisation and growing dissatisfaction with the teachings of the church.
Since the late seventies the Norwegian Humanist Association has distributed material to those parents who want an alternative ceremony to celebrate the arrival of a new child. Since 1988 our local branches have arranged humanist celebrations. This has filled a long felt need.
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For hundreds of years the Lutheran State Churches had a monopoly on confirmation ceremonies for 14-year-olds. As a result of religious liberty, modernism, and secularisation, non-believers have felt a need for a different kind of celebration that is just as emotionally satisfying for the participants, but which is based on new knowledge of the world, new ideas of a good life and freed from religious dogmas. In 1951 the first civil (later humanist) confirmation in Norway took place in Oslo and the Norwegian Humanist Association took over this responsibility in 1956.
The participants attend a course where they discuss life stances and world religions, ethics and human sexuality, human rights and civic duties. |
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During the past few years one third of all marriages in Norway have been civil ceremonies performed by a Norwegian Court, and in 2004 the Norwegian Marriage Act was amended to allow The Norwegian Humanist Association to authorise its own officiants and offer humanist marriage ceremonies. The first humanist marriage ceremony took place on 31 December 2004. When the Norwegian Humanist Association applied for the right to perform marriages, we also applied for authority to marry same-sex couples. Early in 2007 we could finally celebrate that we have been granted this right. The first same-sex marrige took place on 05 May 2007.
A humanist marriage ceremony is beautiful and evocative, and both celebrates and confirms the fact that two people have chosen each other. Such ceremonies are based on the actual couple and on the humanistic foundation on which they wish to build their life together - love, equality, mutual respect and tolerance. The main part of the ceremony consists of a marriage declaration and a personal speech to the couple. Other components can be poems, music and cultural elements. There are no religious elements in a humanist marriage ceremony.
The Norwegian Humanist Association has its own officiants who are approved by the county governors and who provide couples with advice about the ceremony prior to their wedding day. A condition of a humanist marriage ceremony is that one of the parties must be a member of the Association.
The Norwegian Humanist Association has a large number of members who are trained to officiate at humanist funerals. Our local branches arrange contact between the officiant and the family or friends of the deceased. For families who prefer to arrange the funeral themselves the association has produced booklets and other material which might be of help. These are usually available at the undertakers. If foreign residents in Norway wish to arrange a private funeral some assistance may be given by the main office of the Norwegian Humanist Association.