Funeral celebrant Australia and then in other Western countries, it was inevitable that a similar philosophical paradigm would be applied to secular funerals. A civil funeral celebrant is an individual person, quite often, but not necessarily, an authorised civil marriage celebrant, who offers to perform civil funerals in a dignified and culturally acceptable manner, for those who, for whatever reason, do not choose a religious ceremony. Civil funeral celebrants also serve people who have religious beliefs but do not wish to be buried or cremated from a church, temple or mosque. More frequently, people choose civil funeral celebrants because they wish a
Marriage in New Zealand held in a place of their choice. In 1976, The Marriage Act Amendment Act 1976 replaced the words "officiating minister" in the 1955 Marriage Act with "marriage celebrant" and allowed for marriages to be performed by organisational and independent marriage celebrants in addition to religious organisational marriage celebrants. The Humanist Society was the first organisation to have a nominee registered under the amended Act and a Humanist marriage celebrant was appointed in Auckland. The Humanist Society followed with the appointment of further Humanist celebrants in Auckland and at various locations throughout New Zealand. Other secular organisations followed and registered their