The Celebrant Foundation & Institute (CFI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization dedicated to the education, training and certification of professional secular officiants known as Life-Cycle Celebrants. CFI was founded in 2001 and has headquarters in Montclair, New Jersey.
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The designated Celebrant profession began during the early 1970s in Australia and New Zealand. The International Federation of Celebrancy organization estimates more than one million wedding ceremonies have been performed by Celebrants worldwide. See Celebrant (Australia).
Celebrancy is a growing occupation in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In 2007, the Celebrant profession was named by CNN and Money Magazine as the #3 best job for those over 50 and ready for a change.[1]
Individuals and societies in North America and Europe have increasingly utilized the services of Celebrants, due to the needs of many diverse cultures, beliefs and backgrounds.[2]
Life-cycle Celebrants are professional ceremony officiants who advocate the power and effectiveness of ceremony and ritual to serve basic needs of society and the individual. They collaborate with their clients to create and perform personalized ceremonies that reflect the clients’ beliefs, philosophy of life and personalities; not the Celebrant's.[3]
Life-cycle Celebrants officiate for individuals, couples, families and organizations at virtually every life event, with a focus on custom-made ceremonies to reflect the needs, beliefs and values of people from all walks of life. Specialized ceremonies include occasions such as: weddings, vow renewals, commitments, baby blessings and naming, coming-of-age, rites-of-passage, survivor, seasonal and earth-based rituals, retirements, family reunions, celebrations-of-life, memorials, and funerals.
Celebrant students follow an interdisciplinary program focusing on the history and art of celebration, symbolism, rite of passage and world traditions; and the theory and practice of ceremony, rituals and public speaking[4] via distance learning (online) classes taught by the Celebrant Institute & Foundation faculty. Following graduation, those trained through the Celebrant Foundation & Institute become certified and earn the title of Life-Cycle Celebrant.