Humanists Made Visible by HumanLight
by Martha Knox

The little boy on the jungle gym looked up at me with bright eyes. Having just told me all about all the wonderful Christmas decorations at his house, he asked, “What kind do you have at your house?"

In a friendly tone I answered, "I don't have Christmas decorations because I don't celebrate Christmas."

"Oh. Hanukkah?"

"Nope."

"Kwanzaa?"

I smiled and shook my head.

"Hmm. Then what do you celebrate?"

"It’s called HumanLight."

The boy looked confused and curious. "What's that?"

As a former art teacher at a progressive Quaker school this became a familiar conversation. And I enjoyed the opportunity to educate students about humanism, a lifestance for nonreligious people who believe in doing good for others and celebrating humanity, reason, and hope. If my students probed further, the words "atheists and agnostics" would come out as one part of a rich description. In turn these children would gain a new, healthy perspective on people without religious faith; a perspective that we are just like anyone else in our ethics and enjoyment of meaningful holidays.

At the 2007 New Humanism conference hosted by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, much discussion was had about the importance of a humanism that is made complete by creativity and community. Author Salman Rushdie said it would be good to have holidays just for secular people, then jokingly suggested "Atheistmas." Obviously he hadn't yet heard of HumanLight! But then most Humanists haven't.  

HumanLight, officially celebrated on December 23, was created in 2001 by the New Jersey Humanist Network as a secular alternative to holidays with a religious history or connotation. Its purpose is for humanist families and communities to joyfully and simply celebrate the positive values of humanism--reason and compassion--and acknowledge the tremendous accomplishments of humanity.

Many other secular alternative holidays don't actually celebrate humanist values, such as the winter solstice and secular Christmas which were adopted from religious traditions, or Festivus which was created as a joke for the television show Seinfeld. The people who created HumanLight felt a desire to celebrate the holiday season as fully and genuinely as anyone else.

Since 2001, HumanLight has enjoyed much success. Not only does the New Jersey Humanist Network continue to celebrate it, but the holiday has been adopted by over twenty other local humanist groups around the United States, and in 2007 it was also celebrated by a group in Chester, England. The HumanLight creators maintain a board and website with photographs and information about celebrations, as well as a store selling, among other merchandise, ornaments, candles, cards, and a coloring book for children. HumanLight even has a theme song written by Sonny Meadows, and his CD of secular holiday music is also for purchase on the website.  

It is worth noting that Kwanzaa, a holiday invented in 1967 and which is not even celebrated by most African Americans (a 2004 survey by BIGresearch found only 1.7% of Americans celebrate the holiday), is a household word and warranted the creation of a commemorative postal stamp. A film came out this year about Kwanzaa, narrated by acclaimed poet and author Maya Angelou. Kwanzaa enjoys such spectacular visibility because advocates of Kwanzaa worked passionately to promote it. They lovingly created customs and ritualistic (yet secular) objects endowed with symbolic meaning. They relentlessly sent out press releases. They mobilized local families and communities with grassroots networking.

The percentage of Americans who check "nonreligious" on surveys is close to the percentage of African Americans, and yet we have only a fraction of the recognition as a cohesive minority with communities of our own and a rich intellectual heritage. Imagine if, thirty-five years from now, several millions around the country and world celebrated HumanLight, the average American knew the holiday, there was a commemorative postal stamp bearing the HumanLight logo, and a celebrity had participated in making a film about our holiday. Imagine a child asking, "Do you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, or HumanLight?"

Martha Knox is the director of the Humanist Association of Greater Philadelphia.