Secular coming of age ceremony

Secular coming-of-age ceremonies, sometimes called civil confirmations, are ceremonies arranged by organizations that are secular, i.e., not aligned to any religion. Their purpose is to prepare adolescents for their life as adults. Secular coming of age ceremonies originated in the 19th century, when non-religious people wanted a rite of passage comparable to the Christian Confirmation. Nowadays non-religious coming-of-age ceremonies are organized in several European countries.

Modern non-religious coming-of-age ceremonies originate in Germany, where Jugendweihe ("youth consecration", today occasionally known as Jugendfeier, "youth ceremony") began in the 19th century. The activity was arranged by independent freethinker organizations until 1954, when the Communist party of East Germany banned it in its old form and changed it to promote Communist ideology. In the GDR Jugendweihe became, with the support of the state, the most popular form of coming-of-age ceremonies for the adolescents, replacing the Christian Confirmation. After the reunification of Germany the Jugendweihe-activity regained its independence from Communism, but the non-religious rite of passage had become a tradition, and thus approximately 60-70% of youngsters in the eastern states still participate in it. The age for participating in the Jugendweihe is 13–14 years.

Before the ceremony the youngsters attend specially arranged events or a course, in which they work on topics like history and multiculturalism, culture and creativity, civil rights and duties, nature and technology, professions and getting a job, as well as lifestyles and human relations. Nowadays there are many different groups organising Jugendweihes, but the most important ones are Jugendweihe Deutschland e. V., der Humanistische Verband Deutschland ("the Humanist Association of Germany"), der Freidenkerverband ("the Freethinker Association") and die Arbeiterwohlfahrt ("the Worker Welfare").

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