Lara Celini

15/09/2026

Looking forward to the Festival of Humanism in Glasgow on Saturday 14th November. Get your ticket now!

📢 MEET THE SPEAKER 📢

With our Festival of Humanism two months out, we're going to be introducing you to some of the brilliant speakers and performers we've got lined up.

Talat Yaqoob an award-winning campaigner and the founder of Pass the Mic which exists to amplify the voices of women of colour and challenge news/media content. She is also part of the coalition Women Against The Far Right, and is a public speaker, writer, and commentator across media on equalities issues, politics and current affairs.

Talat will be representing Women Against The Far Right at our festival, joining Leon Langdon of Humanists International to talk about how to counter the rising threat of Christian Nationalist bigotry in Scotland and worldwide.



Don't miss out! Book your ticket at the link below

https://www.humanism.scot/events/festival-of-humanism-2026/

10/09/2026

We're so proud of our brilliant celebrant Ailsa McMillan for her brilliant speech at Scottish parliament yesterday.

Ailsa took the opportunity to reflect on the challenges to human creativity from AI, but also her belief that we will never grow tired of our need for human connection and intimacy.

We are very lucky to have a secular Time for Reflection slot rather than prayers to start the day in our Scottish parliament, but we still need more humanists and non-religious representatives to be nominated and appear!

Read Ailsa's speech here: https://www.humanism.scot/2026/09/08/humanist-celebrant-ailsa-mcmillan-delivers-time-for-reflection-at-scottish-parliament/

Ailsa McMillan Humanist Celebrant

08/09/2026

An honour and a pleasure to conduct a baby naming ceremony for Bram!

"If you want to celebrate and share your love for a new life but you don’t have faith, I can’t recommend a humanist naming ceremony enough. I knew ours would feel special but I was surprised at just how special it felt to speak those words and take part in those rituals for Bram"

Parents Greg and Saskia welcomed baby Bram with a naming ceremony in their garden. Guide parents and loved ones joined to celebrate.

18/07/2026

Happy Pride from sunny Glasgow! Come and say hello to us at the Humanist Society Scotland stall on Brunswick Street. We love to chat! Ask us anything about humanism, our campaigns, community engagement, or ceremonies.

Pride celebrates the freedom to live openly, love authentically, and be treated with dignity regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. It honors the courage of those who fought and continue to fight for equality, inclusion, and respect.

Humanist values complement this vision by emphasising our shared humanity, encouraging compassion, reason, empathy, individual freedom, and the belief that every person deserves equal rights and opportunities.

As Humanists we work to build a society where differences are respected, discrimination is challenged, and people can flourish as their authentic selves.

By embracing diversity, defending human rights, and treating one another with kindness and understanding, we help create communities where everyone belongs.

Happy Pride! Let's enjoy this weekend and continue working toward a world guided by equality, empathy, freedom, and respect for all. 🌈

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Join Humanist Society Scotland to support LGBT+ rights and more!

05/06/2026

Warriston Crematorium - My place of work today. It's such an honour and a privilege to help a family say goodbye to a loved one, and to celebrate their life and legacy with stories and reflections from family, friends, and former students and work colleagues. As well as a beautiful slideshow of photographs and music.

Warriston Crematorium stands in the north of Edinburgh beside the Victorian landscapes of Warriston Cemetery, and occupies an important place in the city's modern funerary history.

It opened in 1929, at a time when cremation was becoming increasingly accepted across Britain after decades of debate over public health, religion, and changing attitudes to burial.

The crematorium was developed by the city to provide a municipal cremation service and was designed in a restrained, dignified style rather than as a grand Victorian monument. The chapel and landscaped grounds were intended to create a quieter, more contemplative setting than the crowded urban cemeteries that had served Edinburgh through the nineteenth century.

Through the twentieth century Warriston became one of Edinburgh's principal cremation facilities. As cremation rates rose sharply after the Second World War, the site adapted with updated equipment and improved facilities while continuing to serve families from across the city and surrounding districts.

Today, Warriston Crematorium remains an active municipal crematorium under the City of Edinburgh Council. Although modernised over time, it still reflects the early twentieth-century ideal that a crematorium should combine practical efficiency with a respectful architectural and landscape setting.

For many Edinburgh residents, it has become a familiar part of the city's civic infrastructure: a place where changing social customs can be traced through nearly a century of remembrance and farewell.

02/06/2026

Happy Volunteers' Week to everyone who invests their time in making a difference. The world is better because of you. It's also a great opportunity to find out about volunteering.

To mark 2026, we spoke to our ambassador Imogen Johnston about what made her want to get involved with the society, her vision of humanism, and the rewards of volunteering.

Check it out over at our news blog

https://www.humanism.scot/2026/06/01/humanist-society-interview-series-imogen-of-young-humanists-scotland-on-the-rewards-of-volunteering/

17/05/2026

Guess the venue! We've not played this for a while. This collection of corkscrews and bottle openers adorns the entrance wall of the venue that leads to a courtyard, the venue for yesterday's beautiful wedding ceremony.

Clue: It's a boutique hotel, housed in a building rich in history that once serving as a poorhouse, an asylum, and a science lab, and now opens its doors as a luxury hotel nestled in the heart of the city of Edinburgh's historic Old Town, just a whisper away from the lively Royal Mile.

04/05/2026

Recording your funeral wishes is one of the most thoughtful things you can do for your friends and family, giving them the freedom to celebrate your life instead of the stress and uncertainty of planning around your death without your input. Knowing that your funeral plans will be honoured when the time comes can also give peace of mind and be incredibly empowering.

'These Are My Wishes' aims to support individuals to start important discussions with loved ones and encourage more open conversations around death and our wishes after we die.

Our online form enables and encourages people at any stage of their life to record practical decisions about what they would like to happen after they die.

It’s designed to help you make your wishes known, easing the burden on your loved ones, and ensuring that your life is celebrated in the way you want it to be.

This week, we join communities across Scotland in observing Demystifying Death Week, an initiative by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief which aims to encourage open conversations about death, dying, and bereavement, helping individuals feel more prepared and supported during these challenging times.

It's an opportunity to reflect on how we can best support each other through serious illness, death, and grief, and to consider the importance of planning ahead. By fostering open discussions, we can reduce the discomfort and uncertainty often associated with end-of-life matters.

Share your wishes and make a difference. Humanist Society Scotland's online form is free to access and will guide you through some questions, prompting you to create a plan that makes your wishes clear, and when you’ve finished completing the form, you can submit it and will be able to download a PDF copy of your answers that you can share with your solicitor and next of kin. Find it on Humanist Society Scotland's website or message me for the link.

Humanist Society Scotland Ceremonies

03/05/2026

Day 3 of - What is humanism?

Humanism is a secular worldview.

"My humanist ethos is rooted in empathy and compassion. A belief that we make sense of the world through reason and experience, and that people should be able to live full and free lives so long as they don’t harm others"

https://medium.com//my-humanism-052e88ee4adf

02/05/2026

Day 2 of - How did I get started?

My journey to becoming a Celebrant began in 2008 when I spoke at my best friend Rachel's funeral. Immersed in grief, writing and delivering part of the tribute was a cathartic experience. This was my first contact with the charity Humanist Society Scotland, and led to me volunteering for Edinburgh Humanists and joining as a member.

When the call went out for new Celebrants it occurred to me that I had done this for one of my dearest friends, and it gave me the confidence to feel that this was something I could do for others.

So in 2011 I trained to become a Funeral Celebrant, and that marked the beginning of an amazing journey helping couples and families to celebrate life and love.

Now I conduct weddings, civil partnerships, renewal of vows, baby namings, child welcoming ceremonies, funerals and memorial ceremonies.

I have Rachel to thank for this.

The month of May is a chance to get to know me and my Celebrant friends and colleagues a bit better.

Tune in tomorrow to find out more.

Image description: Rachel wearing blue with the blue sea and sky behind her.