WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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A humanist naming ceremony is generally
a very joyous occasion

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and it serves a number of purposes. So,
firstly, it's the opportunity to welcome

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the child into the world. A welcome
that's given by the parents but also by

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the wider circle of family, so it's an
acknowledgement of the child, often it's

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an acknowledgement of the journey that
the parents have been on in that first

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year of the child's life but it's also
an opportunity to really acknowledge the

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familial relationships, the new
familial relationships, that have come

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about as the result of the child
having been born, and it's an opportunity

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for the parents to really consolidate
what they want for their child, what they

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believe is important, what they want to
commit to in terms of their child's

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upbringing. It's also an opportunity for
the parents to acknowledge those people

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that they want to be significant to the
child throughout their child's life.

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So rather than godparents we have 'odd parents'

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or guardians or similar, who also
have the opportunity to stand up and

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say what they want to be able to commit
to in order to stand by that child and

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help them through the difficult times as
well as be there for the fun times.

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It is specific to that family and that
situation, it is deliberately designed

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really by the parents to mark the
occasion but not by referring to any

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sort of deity or particular faith but by
talking about the people who will

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actually be in that child's lives, not
just the parents hopefully obviously, but

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grandparents aunts and uncles 
and guideparents.

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It's interesting how a humanist

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naming ceremony reflects a humanist
approach to life. I think what I really

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like about a naming ceremony is a
sense of creativity, and a sense of

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flexibility in approach and of
expression.

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So at a particular point in

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the ceremony where we were talking about
the family tree and this new child

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joining the family tree, and the cousins
who she was going to become part of this

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extended family, I invited each of the
cousins to come up and to take an acorn

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and as I talked about the fruits of this
tree that were already in existence

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each of the cousins came and put the
Acorn that they had chosen and hung it

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on one of the branches of the tree, and
the parents then hung the last little

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baby acorn on the tree representing the
new baby who was joining this family tree.

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Often parents will decide to
incorporate something within the naming

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ceremony that gives other people there
the opportunity to have their input.

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So, for example, I've had a parent recently
who had a tree, and some branches arranged, and

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some luggage labels, and what we did was
be asked everybody present to write

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a wish for that child and then tie it onto
the branches of the tree, and after the ceremony

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the tags were going to be removed
and kept for the child, and it's just a

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really lovely way to get everybody there
thinking about what they hope for, for

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that individual child. It ended up
reflecting lots of different

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perspectives, lots of different angles on
life, lots of different ideas, lots of

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different experiences. So rather than
just being one or two voices you hear,

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you get a much more of a sense of the
range of people in that child's life.

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One of the best naming ceremonies that
comes to mind is one which took place

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recently on a little beach in West
Wales. The family had flown over from

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Brooklyn in New York, and come back to
where the father had spent his childhood,

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many days playing there, and
they'd wanted something which they could

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bring people from all corners of
the world to come and celebrate the birth of

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their son, and they decided to mark it
with a very very simple piece of

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symbolism which was a stone cairn, which
they built below the waterline knowing

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that it'd been washed away with the tide
and everybody just wrote their little

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messages with a piece of charcoal or chalk onto
the stones, and just seeing that little

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boy they're just playing stacking them,
and realising that everybody would take

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away wonderful memories of that day.