Ceremony of Remembrance – A Time to Remember Those Loved and Lost

York Cemetery Chapel – Sunday October 28th 11am

‘Ocean Dreams’ by artist Josephine Wall
more beautiful paintings can be found at
www.josephinewall.co.uk

Everybody is  warmly welcomed to this event which I very much hope will become an annual one. For some time now I have been wanting to organise an event in York to celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and give us an opportunity to reclaim an old tradition which seems to have been eroded in our culture. I guess in the UK it was part of the catholic tradition which no longer dominates, although many cultures across the world have a day each year that is dedicated to remembering the dead in some way – sometimes involving visiting, dressing and maintaining graves, floating lanterns on the ocean, carnivals….. Many families have their own rituals but we no longer seem to organise anything as a community, other than Remebrance Sunday, which of course is specifically focussed on lives lost through conflicts.

I feel it can be very healing and uplifting to come together and remember our dead, tell their stories once again, keep their memory alive.

The re-opening of York Cemetery’s beautiful Chapel offers a beautiful space for this event. I must stress this is not going to be a religious service – it’s still in the planning stages but will probably involve poetry, music and also plenty of informal time.

I’m hoping to have some refreshments…. it would be good to have some idea of numbers so please let me know if you would like to come along. No charge, but contributions towards running costs would be helpful.

Any questions/suggestions – please do get in touch!