December 23rd is a special day for the humanist community. All over the country and in many other parts of the world, humanists will be lighting candles and sharing meals. In many places, they will present short readings of inspirational literature, sing songs, put on humorous skits or have magic acts for their children. Why? To celebrate a new holiday: HumanLight.Conceived of as a secular celebration of the humanist vision of a happy, just and peaceful world, the name is derived from humanism and the light of reason. According to its website, HumanLight connotes the proverbial “candle in the dark,” suggesting that the hope for our future rests on human accomplishments, guided first and foremost by the unique human capacity of reason.
The date of December 23rd was chosen for its observation in order to avoid conflicting with other holidays such as the Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
The very first HumanLight celebration took place in 2001 in Verona, New Jersey. By 2006, there were 20 American venues listed on the HumanLight homepage and in 2007, the very first non-US celebration took place in Chester, England. HumanLight continues to grow in popularity every year.
You can find out more about HumanLight, including locations where it will be celebrated this year, at their Internet homepage.
Photo Credit:
1) the HumanLight logo (from their homepage)
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Comments
This is silly. Crissmiss is already a secular holiday; that fact being recognized is what has the "war on Christmas" crowd up in arms. There's no war and there's certainly no need for a humanist celebration that mocks the religious elements of Christ Mass.
Hahaha! Creating a holiday and ritual is essentially creating a religion. How do you think Christmas got started?
Furthermore, Christmas is an extension of the Winter Solstice rituals which predate it by thousands of years. The practice of coming together during the darkest months of winter and sharing food is a very human experience. There is no need to invent a fad "holiday" just because Christmas has religious connotations which offend your delicate, liberal sensitivities.
Besides, I bet all of a dozen people celebrated this nonsense.
"Hahaha! Creating a holiday and ritual is essentially creating a religion."
Hahaha! Is Independance Day and fireworks part of a religion? If you think so, you must have an extremely loose definition of what a religion is.
How many people have been killed from religious haters this year? And how many have been killed from humanists?? Get your mind fixed all your Godlovers, Religion is not helping to prevent killing!
To bully some Brights just because they declare the Dec 23th their special day is just childish.
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