celebrant

noun

1. A person who officiates at a religious ceremony, especially a marriage or the Eucharist.

   “The very reverend celebrant was then conducted to the platform of the altar, and the postulant and her attendants having genuflected, the ceremony of reception began with the preparatory prayers and responseries.”

   “The most appropriate mode of ordering the holy vessels at this part of the service, previously to preparing them for the communion, is for the celebrant to place both the patten and the chalice in the middle of the altar, in a line with himself, the chalice behind and the patten in front; for they are presented before God as one Eucharist.”

   “Through it, through what takes place, the celebrants try to obtain a result, to influence the course of the hoped for or dreaded events that either depend on the current dispositions of a divinity or obey gestures or words formerly taught or exercised by a divinity or an august ancestor.”

2. (Australia, New-Zealand)A person who conducts formal ceremonies in the community, particularly weddings, baby namings, renewals of wedding vows and funerals.

   “These are celebrants who marry people at registry offices.”

   “Church and state are completely separate but all clergy can be licensed as civil celebrants for legal purposes.”

   “When we first began as celebrants back in 1973, we had no poetry in our heads at all.”

3. A person who is celebrating something.

   “1977 February 10, Gerri Major, Gerri Major's Society World: Inaugural Balls Have Largest Black Participation Ever, JET, page 39, Once inside, about all that the celebrants could do was nod their heads to the music and pat their feet.”

   “[…]the celebrants had responded “All hail Satan!” and the girl acolyte had come to the altar and raised her garments to the priest, revealing herself naked beneath them.”

   “The procession began, and the celebrants filed into the temple patio to dance the Dance of the Serpent.”

   “Puneet Kaur Sandhu, Sacramento-based senior state policy manager for the Sikh Coalition, said her organization worked with Ash Kalra to make sure the bill's language included celebrants from other religions whose holidays coincide with Diwali as well.”