Humanism Now
Welcome to Humanism Now, the weekly podcast from Humanise Live. Tune in for the latest news, insightful worldwide guest interviews, and lively discussions on the most pressing questions of our time — all from a naturalistic, empathetic, and rationalist world view that marks out humanism. Join us as we explore ethical dilemmas, dissect current events, and engage in thoughtful conversations that matter.
Humanism Now
27. Happy Human Lithuania on the Magic of Humanist Ceremonies & Growing Social Enterprises
Humanist ceremonies—weddings, namings, and funerals—are growing rapidly worldwide, offering non-religious, deeply personal ways to mark life’s most significant moments. Laimingas Žmogus (Happy Human) is a social enterprise based in Lithuania, dedicated to making these ceremonies accessible and meaningful.
This week we are delighted to be joined by Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė, Founder and CEO, and Gerda Surgautaitė, Co-Founder of Laimingas Žmogus to share insights into establishing meaningful non-religious ceremonies that resonate with diverse populations and the launch of the Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator, a pioneering initiative designed to help humanist organisations around the world establish sustainable social enterprises through humanist ceremonies.
The episode covers;
- The rapid growth of humanist ceremonies globally
- Introduction of the Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator programme
- Addressing the unique challenges to secularism in Lithuania
- Inspiring stories of uniquely tailored ceremonies
- Practical advice for starting humanist social enterprises
If you’re interested in the Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator, visit the Humanist International webpage for details about participation.
Apply here by 14th March 2025: https://humanists.international/blog/join-the-humanist-ceremonies-accelerator/
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Welcome to Humanism Now, the podcast for anybody active or just interested in humanism. I'm your host, james. Humanist ceremonies, such as weddings, namings and funerals, are growing rapidly worldwide, offering non-religious, deeply personal ways to mark life's most important and significant moments. Hingis Zmorgas, or Happy Human, is a social enterprise based in Lithuania dedicated to making these ceremonies accessible and meaningful. Happy Human recently launched their Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator, a pioneering initiative designed to help humanist organizations around the world establish sustainable social enterprises through humanist ceremonies. I'm delighted to be joined today by Urta Zukasketa-Zabuke, founder and CEO, and Gerda Sugoteta, co-founder of Happy Human Lithuania. Together, they play a key role in developing the humanist ceremonies throughout Lithuania, training over 60 celebrants and overseeing nearly 2,000 ceremonies. Gerda and Uta, thank you for joining us on Humanism Now.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having us here. Thank you, hello.
Speaker 1:Thank you both so much for joining us. I have to say I was really impressed when I first heard about the Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator. It sounds like a fantastic initiative. So, goethe, could you explain what a Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator is, who it's for and what you hope to achieve with the project?
Speaker 2:The Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator is a program designed to help teams create and scale humanist ceremony services on social enterprise basis. It's aimed at teams from organizations that don't yet offer humanist ceremonies, such as weddings, naming ceremonies and funerals, but want to start, or those who have already begun and are looking to grow in a sustainable way. So our goal is to provide participants with knowledge, skills and support needed to build impactful ceremony services that operate as social business.
Speaker 1:It sounds like an amazing project and deeply needed. I'm sure you can leverage a lot of the experience and learnings that you both have. It's such an amazing idea, Erta. How did you personally come to be involved with this project?
Speaker 3:So since 2018, we have our organization been involved in Humanist International, which gave me an opportunity to meet humanists and humanist organizations around the world, and during the years I got to know them but also our organization grew and I understood that we can create the workplaces and we can be sustainable, and it's quite unique in the context that we did it only through the ceremonies. There are other organizations who are sustainable through other social enterprises, but usually the ceremonies are considered more as an advocacy and educational and charity work, not as an enterprise. Both Gerda and I, we love systemizing and sharing the knowledge and enterprise. Both Gerda and I, we love systemizing and sharing the knowledge and we really believe that social entrepreneurship is the future, even the humankind, because we need to find ways to make things also profitably. We need to check the value in some very fast methods, but also we need to do it not only for ourselves, but for the society.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I love that you've taken the route of making this a social enterprise, which is quite a unique model as well. So I'd love to learn more about that. But I guess, going back a step, you both co-founded Happy Human Lithuania Fantastic name. What was the driving force behind the creation of the group and, I guess, what led you to humanism more generally?
Speaker 3:We both knew what humanism is. I was just searching how to do my own wedding because my husband and I were atheists and in Lithuania there was only option of religious or civil marriage and civil marriage seemed also quite official for us and not fulfilling our need. So I started searching and only then I found that there is these humanist ceremonies and the concept of it. Gerda was my brave friend who agreed to conduct the wedding ceremony, but we were creating it together and trying to understand the concept and basically I've read about humanism and I understood oh, that's what I believed and that's my basically worldview and it corresponded very well with my values, with personality I wanted for my wedding and basically that's what led us to humanism, the service which we needed and, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:I would add just to this question that I was this brave because I had background in theater I have a degree in acting, so when Urte asked me to officiate her wedding, I was excited to take on this challenge, and I have to admit that I had never attended a humanist ceremony before. I conducted one, yeah, but I believe my expertise in theater helped me create truly a meaningful atmosphere, stay present in the moment and ensure the ceremony that flowed smoothly. I think at that time I was already interested in inclusive leadership and I knew quite early on that I wanted to build an organization rooted in democratic values, the one that values feedback, the one that values shared decision-making. That was really important for me. And, of course, after my time in theater, I was drawn to creating a business where these principles could truly come to life, and also one that could generate its own revenue rather than rely just on project-based funding. In theater, creating often depended on securing grants, and I wanted to build something where creativity was not limited by external funding but could be sustained and monetized independently. So that's why I think structuring it as a social enterprise felt so natural.
Speaker 2:And one more reason we could say was because we considered the cultural and historical context when choosing the structure. What I mean? That in Lithuania, membership-based organizations, they are not as popular, you could say, and partly due to the legacy of the Soviet era, because when everyone was required to belong to the Communist Party and this institution itself, it was also officially atheist organization. Yeah, so you can see that because of this history we were a little bit concerned that inviting people to formally join a humanist organization might create resistance or some negative association, especially among those who are not familiar with the term humanism or with our work. So the social enterprise model, I think, allowed us to focus on providing services and building trust over time, rather than asking people to commit and join membership organization upfront.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I would like to say that I love this Steve Jobs quote that you can connect the dots only backwards, not in front of you. And I think a lot of this was also a coincidence, because we were young young, we were at the beginning of our careers and we wanted also some monetary funds to fund what we love to do. At first we were starting it as an activity for ourselves and then this activity got successful and got recognized and it grew to what we have now really fascinating, yeah, and I love the local context for this as well in terms of shaping this, and I think that's important.
Speaker 1:I think for us all to remember, as we try to help other start groups and support each other around the world, that there might be different structures and contexts that work within, depending on history and culture.
Speaker 3:And actually I would say that's one of the things why we wanted to do Accelerator not to train on the ceremonies itself, but to try to search for a business model which would fit the best the organization and the context they have, because the skills for the ceremony, leadership and creative part is only one part of the success, but the other part is to find how to fit in the market and how to address the needs the society actually have absolutely yeah, and make it sustainable in every sense.
Speaker 1:Make it, as you say, addressing the needs, but also sustainable without the need for charity or donation going forward, that this is actually a business which is serving a purpose but it can also fund itself. I think that's really impressive what you've built, and how does being a social enterprise shape the work that you do compared to being a charity Erta? Can I put that to you please?
Speaker 3:I would say we had a luxury of being self-sustainable and maintaining at least a couple of workplaces only from the ceremonies. The main challenge, I would say, is the conflict between the commercial and social priorities. For me as a CEO, that's especially important and hard. I always want to go for the social, but then I need to remember that we have also a plan to stick to and the goals to achieve. And that's quite challenging inside and outside.
Speaker 2:I would add that one disadvantage, the one challenge that we face, is that people sometimes have a negative outlook on business. Many believe that ceremonies, especially humanist ones, should be seen as charitable work, and they might question the idea of charging for these services. There is, I would say maybe there is a stigma for some, at least in Lithuania, where they assume that something meaningful should come without financial exchange. So I think overcoming this perception is also part of our work. But I like demonstrating that social enterprises can provide high-quality, ethical services while also generating revenue to reinvest into their own missions. And it's important to note that we are not only independent from state funding, but we also contribute to the state budget by paying taxes. So sometimes I like to joke that churches also for the ceremonies, but unlike them, we have transparent pricing and we are paying taxes.
Speaker 1:Yes, I think that's a frequent challenge that I see come up in many areas of work where there is a when people want to introduce something that is ethical and well-meaning I guess for a better word that they feel it should be done without charge and that those who perform it shouldn't charge for their services or their time. But, as you say, it's the same as any other profession and just because there is meaning behind it, then it has value. And I love the point as well as you say that actually supporting these kind of initiatives is also putting back into the state as well. So I think it's a challenge that we come up against often and actually, if I can ask, and whoever would like to maybe give a quick answer to this, what is your quick response that you like to give when someone asks or puts up that objection that they don't feel they should pay for such a service? How do you like to respond?
Speaker 3:oh, we have a perfect answer for that. Then we say you can just pay for our consultation and you can do it yourself. And then people sometimes they choose this option, but there are many who after the consultation see how much work it is and how much it consists of, and then they get back to us and say, okay, help us please, we will pay for the help.
Speaker 1:Very good response, so I'd like to take a bit of a step back and look at the broader religious and secular landscape in Lithuania. I think you're the first guest that we've had from that region, erta. How is humanism perceived in Lithuania? You discussed about, obviously, the history with state atheism, so I'd be interested to know how humanism is viewed, particularly in relation to atheism and the challenges or the unique challenges that you face in Lithuania.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for now, humanism is not seen as a life stance in a public discourse. I would go back to the 2016 and when we organized the wedding. The word human wasn't a keyword for ceremonies, for life stances at all. It's a keyword for humanist psychology, humanist education, but not as a secular life stance. So we brought this word to the context of humanist ceremonies. Now many Lithuanians know what the humanist ceremony is and what this option consists of, but not necessarily what humanist life stance is. So through the work in the ceremonies, we try to educate people, but also we see that a lot of education needed through the life stance.
Speaker 3:As for the context, lithuania does not have a state religion, so we are lacking that. But for sure, there are some religious privileges. 80% of people, according to our census, are Roman Catholics, and it is also due to our historical background where the church played a huge role during our independence fight against the Soviet Union. So after we got independence, our first contract with another state was the contract with the Vatican. Those religious privileges come with the work they did, basically, but it's not something I think should stay and should be in the future, even though 80% are considering themselves Roman Catholics. We can question the methodology of the census we use now, because we see from the statistics that only 50% of people choosing the Roman Catholic wedding and others are choosing other options. We consist of 3% of all wedding in Lithuania, which is quite huge, as we started only in 2017. Officially, it's the same as in other European countries. A lot of people become religious when we think about funeral, and even atheist people are choosing for religious funeral. So yeah, that's about it.
Speaker 1:Really impressed by the rapid growth as well to be already so quickly at 3% of all of the ceremonies. Congratulations once again. And, gerda, I'd love to know what the response has been so far to the humanist ceremonies and the accelerator in particular.
Speaker 2:So far, I would say the response to humanist ceremonies accelerated has been only positive. Actually, we have seen strong interest from organizations and teams over the years, particularly when we have participated in international humanist conferences, such as last year event in Singapore or Humanist Congress in Copenhagen, where Urtand and I led a workshop about social entrepreneurship. Since that time, we already had in our minds that our business model is quite unique and that's why, for the past couple of years, we have felt it was the right time to start sharing our experience with humanists abroad. And in fact, during last week's Q&A session, more than 13 humanist organizations from all the continents registered to participate. So I think it shows the global interest in doing humanist ceremonies.
Speaker 2:Actually, I noticed that many humanist organizations are concerned about how to popularize humanism, as often individuals don't identify as humanists themselves, and I think maybe it could be the answer to popularize the ceremonies. Humanist ceremonies, because the focus should not necessarily be on labeling people as humanists, but rather on the values and actions we promote, also during the ceremonies, because humanism resonates with people who care about inclusivity, about equality, about meaningful connections, and these are universal principles that go beyond labels. So by creating ceremonies that reflect these values, we are able to reach a wider audience, regardless of whether they identify as humanists or not.
Speaker 1:I think that's a really important point, that it's not a prescriptive thing, and I think that I see that a lot as well. Humanist ceremonies are growing rapidly here in the UK as well, and that's often one of the main attractions is that when people hear what humanism stands for, it's not necessarily about the label. In fact, I hear it often of mixed-faith marriages because typically if they were to choose one faith or the other, then they'd be quite restricted in what they could do. But actually, through having a humanist ceremony, it gives you that opportunity to pick elements from different cultures, different faiths, whilst maintaining that universalist, welcoming approach.
Speaker 3:Actually what science says as well, that people's spirituality is not anymore one-lined. We choose things we like from different lifestyles and different religions, different traditions. Different lifestyles and different religions, different traditions, and it can be five different ones. We choose to practice in our life and to do yoga and to use some pagan tradition for celebrations and to have a humanist ceremony and then to have some ritual in I don't know Bali. So that's how human works now.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, and we certainly see that anecdotally that even those people who are of faith, it's a very individual and unique thing, and, again, what I've always found going to a human ceremony is how personalized it is to those that are being honored on the day. Rather than more formulaic ceremonies and we certainly see that anecdotally as well People's beliefs are very personal and everyone has their own way of either being religious or spiritual, or none of the above, and so what I've always liked about attending humanist ceremonies is just how tailored they are to the individuals who are being honored. So, thank you very much for what you're doing, and I wonder as well do you have any examples of unique or special ways in which you've conducted ceremonies that you'd like to share?
Speaker 3:I would say that the evolution of our ceremonies is in numbers, but also in different types of ceremonies. We were adapting depending on individual needs. For example, the first naming ceremony we did was for two mums who wanted their, their son, baptized but were denied by a church. So they asked us to help and that's how we created the first naming ceremony and now we do namings for everyone. The first ceremony we had for elopement wedding was when couple said they want anyone at the wedding, even the celebrant. So we decided to pack the ceremony in a box and to make their story recorded in an audio format and all the ceremony created and shared by them through the envelopes they each open and reach to one another. Also, we had a renewal ceremony which was done in a form of a tour, where the couple visited the places and locations which are important for their story and through this tour they were remembering and saying important things to one another.
Speaker 3:One more example would be when the Ukraine war started, we got a lot of refugees in Lithuania who were wounded by the Russian aggression and of course we wanted to do our part for the society and we organized a mass funeral ceremony for the war victims, for whom nobody could make monuments and nobody could have a normal funeral. So we honored everyone who were victims of the war and it was a public ceremony where everyone who participated and it was around 300 people brought different sized stones and we together created a monument which was staying and reminding everyone around that these terrible things are happening. So I would say that we do not limit ourselves to the concept that ceremony should be wedding, should be funeral, should be naming. We try to create what is needed. For example, gerda created for me a birthday ceremony which was also very nice and meaningful and perfect. So, yeah, we try to use this in a collaborative way and to create with a team that allows us to get more ideas and to work not as individual celebrants but as a team.
Speaker 1:It sounds like it's limitless what is possible. You're only limited by your imagination. And it's great to hear as well that it doesn't necessarily even have to be tied to the major stages that we tend to use ceremonies for. So, yeah, those are some fantastic examples there. I love the idea even of creating the ceremony in a box for someone who wants something that's really private, I guess. With that in mind, what is the legal recognition status of humanist weddings and namings and funerals in particular, given that it is so flexible, what can count as a humanist ceremony? How are they legally recognized, the same way as religious ceremonies?
Speaker 3:No, the legal recognition is only needed for the wedding ceremonies, of course, but in Lithuania we have a secular approach that the marriage and the registration of marriage, birth and funeral is done only by the state. The state-recognized church is to also provide the documents for the state. As we are not a state-recognized church and so you need to go through quite a process to become one, we do not have a legal recognition for our marriages, but we invite civil officials to our ceremonies when a couple wants. It's around 30% of our ceremonies is done together with the state official, but of course it's much less flexible and of course we would love that humanism also would have the same rise as other religions in our country.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I'm sure many people will be listening to this and really impressed by the success of Happy Human and wonder if they have the knowledge or the resources or the time to create something similar to what you've done. So, Gerda, what advice do you have for anyone who's just starting out and would be looking for support starting their social enterprise, their humanist group, or just getting started in humanist ceremonies?
Speaker 2:I would say starting a social enterprise or any other venture. First of all, it takes a lot of courage, it takes a lot of belief in your idea. Of course, it takes hard work and it's not easy, and there will be challenges along the way, for sure. But from my experience I can tell that I think it's worth to create something that reflects your values. When you are able to work with like-minded people and bring vision to life, it's incredibly fulfilling and it's also empowering, because by building something that matters, you're creating a space where you get to do what you believe in and shape your own future. So I would say, in a way, it's about putting into action a core humanist principle to leave the world a little better than you found it and taking responsibility for your fate. And I think the good news is that today it's easier easier than ever to get started because there are so many free digital tools available to help you organize, communicate, to grow your idea.
Speaker 2:I don't think you need a big budget to begin. What matters most is your vision, your passion and, of course, I want to say, a strong team, because I'm certain that we wouldn't have succeeded without Urte and I working together and having known each other since high school obviously helped because we already had a solid foundation for our team. But the most important advice and secret that I could share is probably to sell your first ceremony, because once you have sold that first one, the rest will follow, and then it's about delivering and fulfilling what you have promised. But getting that first commitment is the key, I believe, and once it's done, the rest of the work becomes much easier.
Speaker 3:That reminded me of our first meeting, to which we went not, knowing the price of the ceremony, even thought about this question. We thought about many other questions the couple might ask, but not about the price, and what we answered was oh, we got now a lot of information from you, so we need to think and we will get back to you with the proposition. And I think that's really important to start small, not to start from very high hopes and so on, just to do one ceremony and to see how you like it, what you learn from it and adapt. I think another key principle from scientific worldview we use is reflect a lot After each hypothesis that this would work, reflect and move on. So yeah, so reflect and learn and it will be good.
Speaker 1:Lots of fantastic advice in there. Reflect and learn and it will be good. Lots of fantastic advice in there and I'm sure this is all information and resources and training that will be available for those who are successful in getting through. On the Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator program, I always find as well. Ceremonies are the best advertisement for humanism, as you mentioned earlier, because it doesn't require anybody to identify as a humanist but it just promotes the values, and they are values that I think need promoting in the world and I think we can all agree to. Once again, before we wrap up, if we can just repeat for anyone listening who might be interested to be involved, how do they get in contact with you for the Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator and when is the deadline?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the selection process is still ongoing and we have extended the deadline until mid-March, so it's 14th of March. So if you're interested in participating, we warmly invite you to go to the Humanist International webpage and you can find our application form that you can fill in and we will get in contact with you.
Speaker 1:Perfect, and we will include links to everything in the show notes. So thank you both for your time. Before we go, we just have time for our standard closing question here at humanism. Now, what's something which you've changed your mind on recently and what inspired that change? Urta? Can I put that to you first, please?
Speaker 3:yes, I sometimes think that changing my mind is a curse, because I love to learn and I love to relearn and the recent learning was from Humanist UK book what I Believe. I used to think that we as human beings are splendid because we created so many and invented so many things as farming, fire wheel and whatever. But I love this idea that probably we just noticed things and we reflected and we used coincidences to say, okay, that happened, how we can repeat it, how we can do it again. And it gives me a lot of relaxation in my own life, because when you think that you should be genius and you should create something big, it's quite stressful, but if you think that you only need to notice and use what you notice, then it's much more easy.
Speaker 1:Very good, and same question to you, gerda.
Speaker 2:I have always disliked the idea that creativity and productivity come with inspiration, that you need to wait for inspiration to strike before you can create something, inspiration to strike before you can create something, and I used to get really frustrated with myself when I would procrastinate or feel unproductive. However, recently I have been trying to take a more compassionate approach and remembering that working hard and pushing forward isn't the only path to success. So, yeah, I would say my perspective has shifted and now I believe that sometimes it's better to wait until I feel the energy to create rather than forcing myself to work through it.
Speaker 1:Fantastic advice, erta, gerda, the founders of Happy Human. Thank you so much for everything that you're doing to spread the positive message of humanist ceremonies around the world, and thank you very much for your time and joining us on Humanism Now you.
