The Secular Seder originated in 2014 and has undergone several rounds of revision, evolution, and forking since. Here are all haggadot (plural of “haggadah”, the ritual book used for Passover) known to me at this time.
Note that these have been hosted in the past at The Rationalist Haggadot Collection. I intend to stop updating there and instead put them here from now on (2025-May).
The Original Rationalist Seder by by Zvi Mowshowitz (2014). Heavier on rationalist-ingroupy stuff. Lots of jokes.
Maia Werbos / Roger Curley edition 2017 (“Maiger edition”). Mostly the Sarah/Andrew 2016 one, with various small edits and several larger ones. Notably:
Boston 2017 / New York 2016 (v2.1, as linked in the Rational Ritual FB group, used without modifications) Much more humorous, and includes some changes to the seder plate. Stories section is longer and encourages additional stories to be told. Includes the original story of Passover (as well as commentary on it).
New York 2017 (v2.2, basically 2.1 plus two new stories)
New York 2018 (“very minor set of edits on v2.2. Drops the cell phone and usb memory stick from the seder plate, the Story about Seders, and Who Knows One – plus various wording fixes.”)
Maiger 2019 (mostly same as 2017, some small edits for factual changes; Oppression section replaced by a section from one of the NYC Haggadot)
Socially Distanced Haggadah, 2020 (“possibly by Jim Babcock”)
DC/MD 2023 – based on Maiger 2019 but with additions for the seder plate and a few other edits.
Ilzolende Haggadah 2024. This one is much closer to a traditional religious Haggadah, with some rationalist elements incorporated. It includes the standard Hebrew blessings and the traditional Maggid stories of escape from slavery in Egypt. (Questions? Contact ilzo on Discord, moral-autism on Tumblr, or ilzolende at Google’s email service.)
From a Vox article by Kelsey Piper:
So while May 8 isn’t a conventional holiday, in my house we celebrate it as one — with piñatas shaped like the smallpox virus, presents for the kids, a cookout, and a big party. Our kids are pretty young, and as far as they’re concerned Smallpox Eradication Day is one of the big landmark holidays of the year alongside Halloween and Christmas. …
On December 9, 1979, the disease was confirmed to have been eradicated, with the World Health Assembly making the declaration official five months later. (We celebrate the May date rather than the December one just because December isn’t a good time for a new celebratory cookout holiday and May is.)
Baltimore LessWrong also celebrated this in 2025 with a piñata and shot-themed candy.
Summer Solstice Ritual 2024 from the Baltimore LessWrong group. Features an overnight camping trip, building a henge, and getting up at (or staying up until) dawn to read The Goddess of Everything Else and watch the sun rise over the henge, culminating in a horn blast.
Visions of Summer Solstice (2018): Post by Ray describing his high-level vision of what a Summer Solstice ritual should be like.
Stories of Summer Solstice (2018): Post by Ray describing (at least one) Bay Area Summer Solstice ritual.
A short description of what happens at Bay Area Summer Solstice (thanks to Anna Tchetchekine for intel on the 2025 version):
All participants go to a large outdoor location. During the day, there are a variety of activities, in a festival atmosphere; usually there’s a whiteboard where different people can sign up for timeslots to organize themselves. Typical activities include singing, capture the flag, Circling, and other social/physical/outdoor stuff; people may also abscond to go hiking on their own.
At the end of the day, there is a “March” ritual where the participants, wielding drums/5 gallon buckets being used as drums/didgeridoos made of PVC pipes and wax/streamers and lanterns, all march along the coast of the Marin headlands, yelling, drumming, and hooting, until they come to a final dramatic loud drum circle at the ending location.
Song lyric packs made by Anna Tchetchekine for singing circles at previous Summer Solstices:
Summer Solstice Virtue posters, carried as banners in the Bay Area’s Sunset March in 2025: Abundance, Joy in the Merely Real, and Here Now
Austin Petrov Day ritual revision, 2023.
Key features:
- Shorter than the original (about 30 minutes in total)
- Scalable to larger groups
Archival copies of the full ritual: Original Ritual, Booklet Format
For resources on Winter Solstice (sometimes called Secular Solstice to distinguish it from pagan celebrations, though it is not purely secular humanist), please visit Secular Solstice Resources.
