Human Light

What the day is

HumanLight, usually written as one word, is observed on December 23. It is a humanist holiday, created in 2001 by a humanist group in New Jersey, offering a midwinter celebration grounded in secular rather than religious ideas.

Origin and background

The reasoning behind it was practical. Midwinter celebration is close to universal and considerably older than any of the religions now attached to it, and people who do not hold those beliefs still have Decembers, families and a need for something to gather around. Rather than borrowing a religious holiday and hollowing it out, or opting out and leaving a gap, the founders built a celebration whose content matched what the participants actually believed.

The central symbol is light, chosen for the obvious reason that the solstice has just passed and the days are turning. Candles are lit for the principles the holiday is organized around, generally given as reason, compassion and hope. The point is that these are presented as human achievements and human responsibilities rather than gifts from anywhere else.

The observance itself is deliberately modest: a shared meal, often a gathering organized by a local humanist group, sometimes a charitable collection. There is no liturgy and no requirement, which is consistent with the outlook but does make the holiday harder to spread than one with fixed rituals.

It is worth noticing what shares this date. Festivus, also December 23, is also a secular alternative to Christmas, but it works by parody and grievance. HumanLight is entirely sincere. Two quite different answers to the same question about what to do in late December if the usual answer does not fit.

How to take part

• Light candles and say plainly what you are marking. The naming is the ritual.
• Eat with people. Every midwinter holiday agrees on this one.
• Give to something that reduces suffering, which is the compassion candle made concrete.
• Invite somebody for whom December is otherwise awkward.
• Read about humanism as a positive position rather than the absence of one.