To start a conversation about death, dying and the meaning of a good death, Powell River Hospice Society has teamed up with Day of the Dead Powell River.
In Mexico, Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is a widely celebrated national holiday in which families visit cemeteries to remember and commune with the dead in ceremonies dating back to ancient Maya.
According to hospice society president and retired nurse Heather Baldwin, celebrating the festival in Powell River might create more open attitudes about death and dying, and help raise awareness about the importance of hospice care.
“Death was a celebrated thing in centuries past,” said Baldwin, “because people died at home and it was a natural, normal part of life.”
In the western world this approach changed when the medical profession moved death into hospitals where the focus is on curing disease rather than caring for the dying, said Baldwin. As a result, she said, our society has come to deny, rather than celebrate, death.
“Death is part of life,” said Baldwin. “In our North American culture, death has been denied for so many years, and it’s something that we need to be able to talk about.”
The non-profit Powell River Hospice Society formed in 2013 in response to Vancouver Coastal Health cancelling funds for volunteers who previously organized hospice through Powell River General Hospital.
Now operating out of the offices of family doctor and society director Susan Horsfall, the society has set up a program to train 20 volunteers in the science and art of palliative care.
Baldwin said it is the society’s goal to get the medical and wider community more comfortable talking about death.
“We want people to have support so they can die in the way they want,” said Baldwin.
This is the second year organizer Claudia Medina has held Day of the Dead ceremonies in Powell River. While it is her first time collaborating with the hospice society in running the event, she said it is a natural fit.
“The hospice society wants the community to be aware that there are different ways of dying,” said Medina, “and maybe we need to embrace them and not be fearful.”
Medina said she has expanded this year’s Day of the Dead events to two days so that there will be more opportunity for those attending to learn about the event’s cultural context.
For that reason, Day of the Dead’s traditional lantern parade and altar offerings will be preceded by presentations on death in European and non-European cultures by Horsfall and Medina.
“Death should be celebrated like life,” said Medina. “We want to get into the details of changing concepts of death and dying and draw the connection between that and the idea of a good death, and the need for a hospice society here.”
Day of the Dead Powell River will be held at Base Camp on Friday, October 30 and Sunday, November 1. For more information, readers can go to facebook.com/events/721083704701943.
