page_title: Secular coming-of-age ceremony
section_title: Prometheus Camp
hierarchical_section_title: Secular coming-of-age ceremony / Finland / Prometheus Camp
caption_attribution_description: Prometheus-koru
context_page_description: Secular coming-of-age ceremonies, sometimes called civil confirmations, are ceremonies arranged by organizations that are secular, i.e., not aligned to any religion. Their purpose is to prepare adolescents for their life as adults. Secular coming of age ceremonies originated in the 19th century, when non-religious people wanted a rite of passage comparable to the Christian Confirmation. Nowadays non-religious coming-of-age ceremonies are organized in several European countries.
context_section_description: In Finland non-religious lower high school students planned a camp for a secular rite of passage as an alternative to the Christian confirmation, and the first Prometheus-leiri ('Prometheus Camp') was held in 1989 by the Finnish Philosophy and Life Stance teachers' coalition. The following year Prometheus-leirin tuki ry ('Prometheus Camp Association') was founded for organising the week-long summer camps. The ideology of the association is based on a Humanist world view, but it is politically and religiously non-aligned. One of the main principles of the activity is tolerance towards other peoples' life stances.
  The camp is primarily aimed at youngsters who do not belong to any religious denomination, but approximately 20% of yearly Prometheus Camp participants are members of some religious community, usually the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and also participate in a Christian confirmation. The usual age of participants in a Prometheus Camp is 14–15 years, but there are also "senior camps" for older youngsters. In recent years the yearly number of participants has been around 1000, which is approximately 1.5% of the age group.
  The themes in the Prometheus Camp are differences, prejudice and discrimination; drugs, alcohol and addiction;  society and making a difference in it; the future; world views, ideologies and religions; personal relationships and sexuality; and the environment. These topics are worked on in open discussions, debating, group work, small drama plays or  playing games. Every camp is organised and led by a team of seven members: two adults and five youngsters. At the end of the camp, there is a Prometheus Ceremony, in which the participants perform a chronicle about their week for their friends and family. They also get a Prometheus diploma, a silver-coloured Prometheus medallion and a crown of leaves that is bound by the camp leaders. Weekend-long continuation camps are arranged in the autumn. Annually one Prometheus-camp has been arranged in English, two in Swedish and approximately 65 in Finnish.
caption: The Prometheus medallion
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