Humanist Funerals
When someone important in our lives dies, we gather to share stories about them. Humanist funeral ceremonies draw on our stories to create a celebration of the life of that person, finding comfort in the details that make their ceremony unique to them.
It was one particularly beautiful funeral ceremony that I attended as a teenager that eventually led me to train as a Humanist celebrant. A family friend, an artist, with terminal cancer planned her own funeral as if it was a work of art; everything from the location in a beloved tin tabernacle to the acapella Frank Sinatra at the graveside to the artworks that were gifted to everyone in attendance. I saw how powerful and beautiful a reflection of a person’s life a funeral could be – that it didn’t have to be the standardised and slightly dour ceremonies I’d experienced previously.
Later, planning my Grandma’s funeral service alongside my cousins, it was a great pleasure to pick through her diary entries, sharing them with each other and selecting which ones we’d like to read, and remembering the one time, years ago in her kitchen, she’d told us out of nowhere which song she’d like at her funeral.
Now, as Humanist celebrant, I can help you look back over a person’s life and with a calm and reassuring presence, build the ceremony that brings together all the people who were in their life.
Home
(C) Timothea Armour 2025