ALL SOULS AT MOUNTAIN VIEW CEMETERY
EVENTS
HONOURING OLD TRADITIONS | CREATING NEW ONES
“On All Saint’s Day in the autumn the cemeteries are little cities of golden light, a candle flickering the night through beside each grave.”
– Poland; from Funeral Customs the World Over, Habenstein & Lamers, Bulfin, 1960
IN-PERSON ACTIVITIES
October 19 – November 1
Memorial Box Lanterns Kits
Kits will be available beginning October 19 and can be found outside the Cemetery Office to take home and personalize.
Memorials can be placed on the shrines at Mountain View Cemetery beginning October 25.
October 25
Opening Ceremony
6pm
Beginning at sundown, a gentle ceremony will mark the official start of All Souls’ 19th year.
October 25 – November 1
Public Shrines
The public are invited to light candles, write messages, and leave personal memorials to remember their dead in an atmosphere of contemplative beauty.
Quiet incidental music may be encountered in the evenings and on weekend afternoons, throughout the memorial period.
October 28
1pm
RedDress Tree ceremony
with Elder Kelly White & Moonstone
1 – 4pm
Moonstone Indigenous Women’s Singing and Drumming Group
2 – 4pm
Mending/Tending – Ecological Grief
Led by artist Keely O’Brien
You are invited to join artist Keely O’Brien in a gentle hands-on workshop exploring themes of ecological grief. We will be working with natural materials and relaxing creative processes, such as stitching and binding, to create personal offerings. This workshop is intended as a supportive space to cope with the emotional impacts of the climate crisis, take solace in natural spaces, and connect with community.
Free, Drop-In, All Ages (children must be accompanied by an adult)
Outdoors near the Celebration Hall at Mountain View Cemetery
October 29
1 – 2pm
Book reading and Creative Ceremony
with Fiona Tinwei Lam
City of Vancouver’s Poet Laureate, reads from her book, The Rainbow Rocket, about a young boy and the death of his grandmother.
The presentation is followed by hands-on opportunities for personal ceremony.
2 – 4pm
Clay Memorial
Led by artist Jesse Orr
A simple and tactile way to spend time memorializing the beloved dead. Choose a handmade, unfired clay piece to carve and decorate with messages. Then, leave your creation outdoors to melt into the earth as an offering. All materials provided, no experience necessary.
November 1
7 – 9pm
Closing Ceremony
Our annual walk to each of the shrines to close the event.
Parking available. Wheelchair accessible
~ All events are outdoors. Please dress for the weather.~
ONLINE ACTIVITIES
October 29
7 – 9pm
Online Mourners Tea
A community conversation about death and grieving through personal experience.
To register for this free event or for further information, e-mail info@nightforallsouls.com
All ages welcome. 
MUSIC AT MOUNTAIN VIEW
Live ambient music may be encountered on weekend afternoons and all evenings.
Musicians appearing during All Souls:
Johann McBee (hung drum), Naomi Steinburg (flute),
Calvin Cairns (fiddle), Johanna Hauser (clarinet), David Akselrod, Rene Hugo Sanchez (Peruvian Instrumentals), Oliver Schneider Duo, Moonstone Indigenous Women’s Drumming and Singing, Kristina Zalite, Carmen Rosen, Salalaul Acapella Trio, and the Savoir Faire musical group
Why Are We Not Going Back to the Way Things Were?
During the pandemic we were unable to hold our usual events in the Celebration Hall, and we found ways to create a safe space to remember our dead. We provided materials & space and people knew what to do. It has become an important community tradition. Some people have been coming to All Souls at Mountain View Cemetery since childhood.
We know that many people miss the days when we gathered in the Celebration Hall, but change is the only thing we can count on in this life, and we embrace this shift. This change has also made it possible to provide more incidental music in the evenings as well as weekend afternoons that can be heard near the shrines and the graves throughout the memorial period.
Everyone who has participated in this unique ritual over the past 18 years has helped to shape All Souls at Mountain View Cemetery into what it is: a sanctuary of beauty for tender feelings, and it will continue to change and respond to the needs of the community and how we come together to mourn, celebrate and honour our dead.
All Souls will continue the tradition again this year with shrines and music in the cemetery grounds with memorial box lantern kits available for people to pick up, create at home and return to the Cemetery to add to the shrines.
For More Info
Check the
City of Vancouver’s Ongoing Events page