In 1973 civil celebrants first started to officiate at weddings in Australia. Many popular traditions used in today’s ceremonies come from European and ancient Greek and Roman times. Nothing new under the sun, as the saying goes.
Name – Giving ceremonies were the next ceremonies to be conducted……sometimes called a secular baptism. These ceremonies date back to ancient Greek and Roman times as well.
As time progressed, funerals and memorial services were added as civil celebrant activities.
Because of the decline in church attendance (one of the reasons for celebrants in the first place), it became important for the celebrant to transmit and reinforce not only values but good conventions of behaviour and morality. This is evidenced in the structure and wording of most marriage ceremonies today.
Another compelling reason to have civil celebrants I believe,is that nowadays many of us feel spiritual, not necessarily religious. Churches, therefore, not being a venue of choice for couples seeking to be married by a civil celebrant.
The Marriage Act of 1961 states that celebrants must raise the subject of pre marriage education with each couple prior to marrying them, and to that end give the couple contact details of education facilitators in a town or city nearest them.
Today’s society with all its complexity brings special needs for each one of us, and celebrating with ritual or marking a special occasion can be as important as the occasion itself.
This can be eg. to allow healing to take place eg after divorce, transition from one phase of life to another eg. retirement, or mourning eg. after the death of a much loved person or animal.
One of the most overlooked occasions in need of ceremony in the developing culture of Australia is ‘introduction to adolescence’. This ceremony has the capacity to help teenagers cross the divide from childhood to adulthood more smoothly and with much more understanding.
All celebrants today, should encourage ceremonial use of material from the arts, ie. poetry, prose, dance, film, music and song. Additionally, the inclusion of cultural material and rituals from other cultures in ceremonies makes for not only richer and more meaningful, interesting and unique, but totally unforgettable experiences.
I encourage anyone seeking my assistance as a celebrant, for whatever reason (not only for marriages), to retrieve and acknowledge their family cultural connections by adding rich ritualistic experiences to their own celebrations and ceremonies.
Ceremonies conducted by Celebrants include;
Weddings, Name – Giving, Funerals/Memorials, Renewing Vows, Same Sex Commitment/Recommitment, Birthdays, Mid Life Transition, Anniversaries, Adolescence, Career Transitions, Graduations, Building Dedications, Step Acceptance, Divorce, Name Changing, Sorry Ceremonies, Seasons/Harvest etc
To read more about Elizabeth’s ceremonies……..
www.thevowsbook.com – a compilation of marriage ceremonies
www.renewalofvows.net – renewal of vows ceremonies
www.spiritualceremonies.info – spiritually inspired ceremonies
www.weddingvows101.net – 101 marriage or commitment vows
www.2ndmarriageceremonies.com – second marriage ceremonies
www.gaycommitmentceremony.net – gay commitment/marriage ceremonies
www.namegivingceremonies.com – name giving/naming ceremonies
www.wedding-ceremonies.net – more marriage ceremonies
www.divorce-ceremony.com - divorce ceremonies www.ring-vows.com – vows to accompany the ring ceremony
(Acknowledgement for inspiration for article content from “Ceremonies and Celebrations” D. Messenger III)
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