As a Funeral Celebrant and Ceremonialist in Somerset, is my job to create and lead funeral ceremonies, celebrations of life, memorial ceremonies and scattering of ashes rituals.
What is a Celebrant?
A Celebrant is somebody who (usually) has been trained to write ceremonies. When I first trained many years, there wasn’t that many celebrant training companies around. Now it seems there are many, with the vast majority all training the same course content and materials to each person who undertakes the training. This doesn’t sit well with me as how can we create bespoke ceremonies of goodbye and celebration if we are receive standardised training taught to all?
This led me and two other forward thinking celebrants to start Choice Celebrant Training. Here we teach individualised celebrant training to every person who embarks upon one of our courses. We are perhaps the only celebrant training company to do this, and the Celebrant Trainers are all active and prolific wedding and funeral celebrants.
As a celebrant I design, create and lead unique ceremonies; all are centred around those they are about or for. This is the role of a celebrant; to record information and use it to write a tailor-made ceremony.
What is a Ceremonialist?
A ceremonialist is a person who has been trained or who is knowledgeable about rituals, creating and holding space, proficient in ceremony creation with an understanding and observation of emotional awareness, and many more traits. There is a difference between a celebrant and a ceremonialist (although many celebrants might not agree, but my training to become a ceremonialist was more intense and different to my standardised funeral celebrant training).
As a funeral celebrant and ceremonialist in Somerset, the roles are intertwined but greatly differ. With a lot of celebrants these days, the people I have worked with in my role as a ceremonialist want more than a ceremony writer and reader.
Funeral Celebrant and Ceremonialist in Somerset
As a funeral celebrant and ceremonialist in Somerset, I work with people in various area of this beautiful county. I specialise in life centred ceremonies filled with memories, stories, inclusion of family and friends which include a farewell to the person who has died. I work in different crematoriums, natural burial grounds and venues across Somerset.
Traditional Funeral Services in Somerset
Traditionally, funerals take place in churches or crematoriums. Referred to as ‘funeral services’, many include the same religious wording said by the Priest or Vicar conducting each service. Prayers, hymns and Biblical readings are part of each service with a committal near the end. The committal is a religious term for the act of lowering the coffin into the grave, or when the curtains close around the coffin, (or if the coffin lowers) at a cremation.
Alternative Funeral Ceremonies in Somerset
Alternative funeral ceremonies (also known as celebrations of life), are ceremonies rather than services. They are written by and led by a celebrant and each one is as varied as those they are for or about. Ceremonies focus on the life and achievements of the person who has died, rather than on religious content (this can be added if required). They are life centred ceremonies recounting stories and memories of the person’s life.
Alternative funeral ceremonies can take place in a crematorium, a burial ground or at the graveside. They can also be held in barns, hotels, village halls, a marquee, or in any venue offering space for these ceremonies.
Alternative funeral ceremonies include music choices of favoured songs, requested by the person the ceremony is for, or by those closest to them.
Poems about job roles, family roles, interest or hobbies replace Biblical readings and prayers (these can however be included if required). Religious committal wording and language associated with traditional funerals might also differ. One example is the term used for those who walk in with the coffin, or who carry it. ‘Pallbearers’ is an outdated word and a cold one for many. ‘Carriers’, ‘escorts’ or ‘bearers’ are more commonly used for non-traditional funerals.
Ceremonies I have been involved in have all been varied from traditional funeral service, alternative funeral ceremonies to unusual ones including a panto themed funeral (which involved a huge papier mache cows head with blinking eyes placed on top of the coffin). An old school music hall style ceremony which included a ‘knees up’, goth funerals, Pagan funerals and ceremonies of goodbye for several bikers are also ones I have created.
Life Centred Funerals in Somerset
Life centred funerals became popular with the introduction of celebrant ceremonies. In traditional funerals services, the life of the person is briefly touched on within a few paragraphs of the funeral script. In a celebrant funeral ceremony, the life story of the person who has died is the core of the ceremony. The person is at the heart of the ceremony, not slotted inbetween religious reading, hymns or prayers.
Football shirts, music t-shirts, fancy dress or non-traditional black clothing is more likely to be requested to be worn at life centred funeral ceremonies. Family pets might also be allowed (depending on the rules of each venue). Animals are part of the family and part of people’s lives and for some it is important to have their four legged family members in attendance.
Go Out as You Lived
Funerals have changed and the traditional funeral service is no longer the expected way to go out. Traditional funerals do not resonate with many people nowadays, especially those under 50 years old. As a funeral celebrant and ceremonialist in Somerset, I create and lead a lot of ceremonies for people who live in Glastonbury. Many have moved here because of spiritual or lifestyle reasons. Christian traditional funeral services aren’t of any interest to many of Glastonbury’s residents.
Helping them to have a celebration of life with an alternative and life centred funeral (sometimes with rituals), brings all of my skills to the table. Ceremonies with drums beating, lots of colour, and attendees giving personal tributes and carrying the coffin, can be both celebratory and overwhelming with grief. This is where my ceremonialist experience comes in.
Every one of us unique and with different skills and abilities. We all like different music, clothes, foods, and have different experiences in our lifetimes. Our funerals should be reflective of who we were and what those in attendance meant to us, and what we meant to them.
We only get one chance to say goodbye, and a funeral is part of the grieving process. It is a celebration of a life, and an acknowledgement with closure of a death. Our lives are unique, and so too should our funerals be.
For further information or to book me to be your Funeral Celebrant, or your Ceremonialist, please contact me.