Oh the Humanity!
Are you worried that your solstice program may be perceived as being about paganism? Or do you want to focus on the pagan aspects of the solstice and not get bogged down with science? Then the Humanists have the perfect holiday for you and your library: HumanLight! This December 23 celebration focuses on how awesome human beings can be.
Of all of the holidays that I’ve been looking into to share here, this one is one of the most positive, uplifting, and inspiring. Humanists’ three tenets are reason, hope, and compassion. There’s nothing scary, judgmental, or negative about it. You don’t lie to or manipulate kids into “good” behavior. It gives you so much freedom to create a special event that everyone can enjoy.
Storytime
Because of this flexibility, I won’t be listing books in this post – it would quickly get overwhelming. But I put together a few helpful things to give you a few more ideas as well as resources to include this empowering storytime at your library.
There are so many ways that you can take your HumanLight storytime: biographies, heroic true stories, science discoveries, special people from that year or throughout history, community role models, etc. Have the kids share something awesome they did in the previous year and have them think of some awesome things to do in the following year. Accept nominations for a community’s Person of the Year as voted by its children. There are so many exciting ways to explore this holiday!
Here’s a flyer template for you to use in your storytime advertising:
Displays
Click here to get the images that I created for this twirling mobile.
How to make the mobile:
- Print off two copies of the images onto ledger paper.
- Then cut them out and sandwich the pieces over a card stock page to make the pieces more rigid and less likely to rip or flop.
- Glue each section together, and let dry.
- Punch holes on the top of each section.
- Used string or twine to tie everything together.
- Finally, hang from the ceiling.
In case you’d like to add anything else to your marketing, know that I used this font for the words.
Songs
Activities
Use this as a coloring sheet or have older children fill the sun and human figures with text about awesome things they’ve done.
Or here’s the same coloring sheet without the text filled in with color:
And there you have it: a good foundation for adding HumanLight! to your library’s holiday celebrations.
