HumanLight
| Part of a series on |
| Humanism |
|---|
 |
| Philosophy portal |
HumanLight is a Humanist holiday celebrated on December 23. Like Kwanzaa, HumanLight is a modern invention, created to provide a specifically Humanist celebration the northern Hemisphere's winter solstice and within the western world's holiday season. It was established by the New Jersey Humanist Network in 2001.[1]
Humanists have cast HumanLight as a celebration of "a Humanist's vision of a good future." They celebrate a positive approach to the coming new year, generally through the lens of Humanist (and particularly secular humanist) philosophy—secular as opposed to religious. The December 23 date allows HumanLight to connect itself to the December holiday season without interfering with other winter holidays which many Humanists may also celebrate.[2]
HumanLight began with a single event in Verona, New Jersey in 2001.[3] In 2006, there were twenty American events listed on the holiday's homepage, and the American Humanist Association became HumanLight's first national sponsor. In 2007, the first HumanLight celebration outside of the U.S. took place in Chester, England.
See also
- Winter solstice
- Darwin Day
- World Humanist Day
- Religious humanism
- Human Rights Day
- Festivus, another December 23 holiday, made popular by the sitcom Seinfeld
References
- ^ "HumanLight - History", accessed December 13, 2009
- ^ "An Introduction to HumanLight", accessed December 13, 2009
- ^ "An Atheist Can Believe in Christmas" by Randy Kennedy published in the New York Times on December 17, 2006, accessed November 24, 2007