Becoming....

Mastering the Art of Celebration and Ceremony

Tina’s First Vow Renewal ©Author’s Own

Last year I was facing a milestone birthday. The big 50. I found myself pausing to reflect on my life and my achievements. I was proud of where I was and who I was but there was still something I wanted to pursue.

I wanted to become a Celebrant.

During my time on this earth I have marked many significant events, celebrated an array of joyous occasions and shed many tears of sorrow in mourning. I felt that my range of life experience, combined with a long history of working with people at points of crisis, gave me a good grounding in connecting with, relating to, and responding to people in need.

I wanted to learn from the professionals about how to be the best Celebrant I could be and to be with an organisation that shared the same values as I did.

Empathy, love, inclusiveness, professionalism and kind.

Love & Empathy ©CelebratePeople

And so I was privileged to find Celebrate People and embarked on my training.

It’s been a learning curve - both for me as a person and who I am becoming as a Celebrant. I won’t call it a ‘job’ because to be a Celebrant is so much more than a job.

It’s a vocation where you never stop learning and developing both professionally and personally.

During my first six months with Celebrate People, I have been privileged to conduct a range of ceremonies, including memorials, funerals, weddings, and naming ceremonies.

Every family has left their indelible mark on me, whether this is introducing me to new music such as new composers or fabulous Polish gay anthems, or leading me to look at old photos of Glasgow and immersing myself in what it was like to be a young woman living in Glasgow in the 50’s.

1950s Glasgow ©Substack AI

I have been led down other cultural rabbit holes, like episodes of The Golden Girls, relating these to my precious memories of time I spent with my own mum; and laughing hard at comedians closer to home, like Francie and Josie, and learning local songs like ‘Sam the Skull’.

Exploring people’s interests brings me closer to them: it enhances my understanding of them and their needs, helping me to write truly personalised and memorable ceremonies.

Doing this for people who have died, also allows me to build a picture of the person in my head, enabling me to write funerals and memorials which are truly visceral.

But what I really like about being a celebrant is the variety of people that I meet and the ceremonies that I conduct.

Naming Ceremony ©Author’s Own

A really special, memorable ceremony I conducted this year was a Naming Ceremony for a one-year-old, held in their gran’s back garden. It was a wonderful, service where extended family members each had different roles in welcoming this new wee person into their family and community, and they used these roles to demonstrate their love for this child.

I have also been able to draw on my own experience as a member of the LGBT community, to help other LGBT people to create meaningful ceremonies.

When I first started as a celebrant, I had no idea I would be so enriched spiritually and culturally. I have developed my understanding of the importance of rituals- for example, wedding rituals in different cultures and I have been privileged when people have revealed what is important to them and why. This has been a really humbling experience: to be let into people’s private worlds.

As I continue in my celebrant journey, I am really enjoying the creative outlet that it brings: I am brimming with ideas to help families create the service they want and indeed celebrate any rite of passage.

Croning Ceremony ©AI

I am currently developing a Croning Ceremony: a ritual to celebrate a woman’s wisdom, her experiences, and her transition into the ‘crone stage’, or life as an elder. This ceremony honours the woman’s contributions and welcomes her into the role of a wise and valued elder and it is held as a small group ceremony outdoors with other women at a similar stage in life.

Irrespective of your beliefs, or what you want to celebrate in your life, I believe that being an open, non-judgemental person creates the right foundation for becoming a professional celebrant.