Since pre-Revolutionary days, American families have cared for their dead at home. The wake was an intimate time when the deceased were laid out in the parlor. Family and friends gathered to communally grieve and support each other. In the aftermath of the Civil War, with so many fallen soldiers needing to be preserved and transported from the battlefield to their distant homes, the practice of embalming took hold, and with it, the modern funeral industry was born.
Today, when it comes to taking care of their deceased loved ones, many families wish to bring that sense of community and agency back home. Cafe Mortel is honored to have an esteemed pioneer in this field, Jerrigrace Lyons, speak at our Wednesday, May 14 meeting at 3:00 till 4:15 in the East Rec.
This talk will inform you of how friends and family can create a personal ceremony or rituals for their loved one at home that may include bathing and blessing the body, building or decorating a casket, having an honoring wake and creating an altar and uniquely tailored services. You will also learn about the many new choices of disposition arising from cultural, ecological and economical needs and desires.
Jerrigrace Lyons is the founding director of the educational nonprofit, Final Passages, and is a minister, death midwife, author and educator. She has pioneered a new field of “home funeral guidance.” In the past 30 years, Jerrigrace has supported hundreds of families with their family-directed home funerals. As a renowned leader, she is dedicated to transforming the way our society views death and dying. She has appeared in several major newspapers and in the PBS documentary, A Family Undertaking.
This meeting will also be available on Zoom (Meeting ID: 820 8891 6512, Passcode: 969618). See you there! Questions – linda@autumnoflifeplanning.com