All Souls community remembrance returns to Mountain View Cemetery

In many cultures around the world, October is a time to show respect for those who have passed on.

A beloved seasonal tradition is returning to Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery next week for a series of non-denominational sacred gatherings to help attendees do just that.

The 19th annual All Souls event, curated by artists Paula Jardine and Marina Szijarto, is taking place from October 25 to November 1 at the cemetery located at the corner of 41st Avenue and Fraser Street.

 

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Community members of all ages are invited to remember their ancestors and recently passed loved ones with message writing, candle lighting, and personal memorials on shrines. The thoughtful atmosphere will be enhanced with live music during the evenings as well as on weekend afternoons.

The shrines will be kept lit throughout the memorial period from October 25 to November 1, and everyone is welcome to participate, even if their loved ones are not interred at Mountain View.

All Souls/Facebook

Other in-person activities include making Memorial Box Lanterns from October 19 to November 1. Kits can be picked up outside the Cemetery Office to bring home and personalize, then brought back for placement on the shrines at the cemetery.

Mountain View Cemetery’s office windows will be transformed into poetic lanterns themselves with works curated by the City of Vancouver’s current Poet Laureate, Fiona Tinwei Lam.

Lam will also read from her book, The Rainbow Rocket, a story of a young boy and the death of his grandmother, on Sunday, October 29 at 1 pm.

All Souls at Mountain View Cemetary

When: October 25 to November 1, 2023
Time: Various times
Where: Mountain View Cemetery – 5455 Fraser Street, Vancouver
Cost: Free