An old custom with a modern meaning

For thousands of years many cultures of the world have used the astronomical event of the solstices to celebrate festivals. Even a growing number of nonreligious people have used the summer solstice as an opportunity to renew the dialogue about their convictions and experiences on the "longest day of the year" and to meet and exchange ideas at joint celebrations.

Starting from associations of nondenominational persons in the United States, over time the summer solstice celebrations of nonreligious people have spread to other countries. In the context of an international humanist conference in the Norwegian capital Oslo on 21 June 1986, World Humanist Day was finally declared a worldwide holiday for people who live their lives without orientation to religious ideas but on the basis of secular, humanistic convictions.

The holiday is also intended to remind people of the central values, ideas and principles of a humanistic worldview: rational thinking, self-determination, individuality, solidarity and compassion, as well as the certainty that all people have only one life.

Every year, this day offers the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our common work. For some years now, such celebrations have also taken place at individual locations in German-speaking countries.

For some years now, World Humanist Day events have been taking place at various locations in Switzerland.