By David F. Rooney
Thursday evening’s Death Café proved to be a standing-room-only affair at Sangha Bean Café. 51 people attended the first-of-its kind event and spent two hours talking about death, what it means and how we face it — or not.
The participants were a mixed bag. Most were over 40 but a number of people were quite obviously in their in 30s or late 20s.
The Death Café was co-hosted by Sangha Bean proprietor Krista Cadieux, who has just completed her training to become Revelstoke’s first death doula, and the Hospice Society.
Death rarely crops up in conversation and is widely regarded as a taboo subject in North America. But the ease with which attendees slipped into full-on conversations about death and dying clearly showed that there is a clear appetite for free and frank discussion about this subject that we must all face sooner or later.
The conversation was fuelled by plenty of coffee, tea and slices of an amazing red velvet cake produced by Dayna VanOverbele of Pip & Dex Custom Cakes and Cupcakery (Please click here to visit her Facebook page). Decorated with icing skulls and roses it looked like something produced for a Grateful Dead concert.
The success of this evening event points to a real hunger for open and honest talk about the final stage in life. Krista said there will be another Death Café at some point in the near future. Don’t miss it.
