Death and cake are not usually a common pairing. A bit of idle chit chat is usually on the cards when out with friends for tea and cake. You wouldn't expect the conversation to turn to your deepest darkest fears about mortality. But those at the Death Cafe offer a new kind of lunchtime experience and it's coming to Islington on the 10th of November. The Almedia cafe bar alongside Dusk and Age UK Islington are hosting a free death cafe event with a safe place for you to chat about death over a nice cup of tea and a biscuit, with strangers and friends alike.
The Death Cafe is a non-profit organization that holds small cafe events all over the world across 38 countries. It was founded by Jon Underwood from Hackney. It is organized and hosted by its members so there are no staff. Jon held the first Death Cafe at his home in Hackney in September 2011 and after the Death Cafe guide was developed in 2012 by himself and his Mother, Sue Barsky Reid, many people across the globe started setting up their own events. As of today there have been over 3701 Death cafe sessions.
What's important about the Death Cafe is that it's breaking the stigma surrounding the topic of death and mortality. Yes, it's a difficult subject but it doesn't necessarily have to be morbid, the death cafe state their aims are 'to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives'. In this day and age people should be able to talk openly about death without it being classed as socially unacceptable. Our modern society has transformed taboos such as sex, feminism and sexuality into talkable subjects, but why not death? At the Death Cafe, strangers engage in new, unfamiliar dialogue with no predefined agendas or themes- just a chance to get things off their chest, ask questions or simply listen. This is what needs to become the norm. Death can no longer remain such a restricted subject, we are human and we have questions. We each have sorrows and stories that need to be shared.
Upcoming Death Cafe sessions in London:
Finsbury Park- 02/11/2016
Lewisham- 05/11/2016
Megan Clarke-Stock, City and Islinton Sixth Form College
