Meredyth Lewis will present “Café Mortal-i-tea”, an informal discussion of death.
Café Mortal-i-tea
What exactly IS a Death Café? Where did it come from ?
In 2004 a Swiss sociobiologist / anthropologist named Bernard Crettaz began the first Café Mortel, and wrote a book called “Death Cafes: Bringing Death Out of Silence”. He took the idea to Paris in 2010, and then in 2011, a man named Jon Underwood introduced the death café in London. It has since spread around the world, and first appeared in Ohio in 2012 by a hospice worker.
Bernard’s idea was to invite strangers and friends to gather over tea and cake and discuss death. That’s it! No agenda, no guest speakers, no professionals. It is not grief support nor bereavement counseling. Just a facilitator who can begin and let the discussion take place, gently guide or monitoring the space and what arises, and ending the gathering.
Death Café offers an accessible, safe, respectful space in which people can discuss and listen, question and share their thoughts, fears, reflections, and cultural connections to dying and the death experience, including our own mortality.
The goal is to normalize death, breathing life into taboo conversations from dying to death to what happens afterward. These gatherings can also increase our awareness of death-as-teacher, thereby helping us deepen our lives and connections to each other.
And don’t forget the refreshments and tea / coffee ! 😊 The ‘café’ part is just as important as the ‘death’ part, if not more so!
So, here’s to Café Mortal-i-tea !