family celebrant

Noun

family celebrant (plural family celebrants)

1. A person who conducts weddings, civil unions, naming ceremonies, and other celebrations of life events, but who is not a government or church official.
   • Some families are taking this further and are finding their own family spokespersons or family celebrants.2009, Neil Dorward, The Guide to a Dead Brilliant Funeral Speech, →ISBN
   • On May 29, they are to have a nonbinding cultural ceremony at Luttrellstown Castle, an event space in Dublin, where Simone Walsh, a civil family celebrant, is to lead the couple in a Celtic handfasting ceremony in which they bind their hands together with a ribbon.2016 May 15, Rosalie R. Radomsky, “Linda Jeng and Conor Healy: A Rat, a Leap and a Neat Bookshelf”, in New York Times
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see family, celebrant.
   • Family celebrants believe that familes are too good for justice. While justice negotiates between competing self-interests, family members share a single interest, the good of the family and each of its members.1996, Nancy E. Snow, In the Company of Others: Perspectives on Community, Family, and Culture, →ISBN
   • Cesare Borgia followed his father, the Pope, up the aisle; in their wake were Cesare's mother, Vanozza, his sister, Lucrezia, and his brothers, Juan and Jofre. Behind them were other family celebrants.2003, Mario Puzo, Carol Gino, The Family, →ISBN, page 41