Ceremonies
For those interested in celebrating important life passages, the Ethical Culture community offers a variety of ceremonies that provide our members and friends opportunities to share these times with love and support.
Naming and Welcoming
The Ethical Culture community takes great pride in working with parents who wish to welcome their child into the community with a Naming and Welcoming ceremony. This ceremony reinforces parents' sense of their own and their child's uniqueness. It is a joyful public occasion when the child is officially welcomed into the social community of his or her parents. However, the Ethical Culture community holds no desire to indoctrinate the new child into one traditional mode of living or thinking, but rather to open the way for the child to develop a meaningful life for herself or himself. For this reason, the Society merely offers support and assistance with the responsibility for the child's ethical development. The Leader and parents together create the components of the ceremony, which is usually interwoven with the Sunday Meeting.
Coming of Age
Another important event is the Coming of Age ceremony, when a family celebrates the coming of age of an adolescent child. This ceremony may be connected to the Ethics for Children program, or it may be an individual marking of this important passage. A Leader and the adolescent work with parents and other family members to fashion a ceremony unique to the individual. The Ethical Culture community strives to help adolescents in this most vulnerable period of their lives.
Weddings
Our Leaders officiate at weddings for those interested in an Ethical Culture ceremony. We are especially concerned that ceremonies reflect a relationship of mutuality between the partners and equality among the sexes. Each ceremony is created by the couple with the assistance of a Leader, and stresses the ethical commitment and shared responsibility to the life and love that the couple will have together. In addition, this ceremony emphasizes the multiple facets of the relationship, the trust and work required, the giving and accepting of promises that have serious import, and the creativity of love. Because the marriage ceremony is based on an Ethical Humanist nonsectarian philosophy, it may be particularly appropriate for those without a traditional religious affiliation or for couples of different faiths. This ceremony is available to same-gender couples (though not recognized at this time as a legal marriage in New York State). For more information contact Sheleigah Grube.
Memorial Services
At the time of death, the primary concern of Ethical Culture is to help the bereaved reach beyond the loss to an affirmation of life. The memorial service is planned by family and friends with an Ethical Culture Leader or member. It is designed to commemorate and celebrate the life of the loved one, to help the bereaved accept the pain and loss, and to offer the support of the community. This service often becomes a celebration of a life - a time to share memories of the deceased, a time to focus on the meaning of that individual's life, and to acknowledge finality without despair. Memorial services are available to anyone who wishes an Ethical Culture ceremony.
