Mountain View Cemetery welcomes All Souls

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October 19 2023 –

As the sun sets over Mountain View Cemetery on Oct. 25, the first ceremonial candles will be lit to mark the return of All Souls for its 19th year.

All Souls at Mountain View Cemetery invites community members of all ages to light a candle, write a message and leave personal memorials on shrines as an act of remembering their ancestors and loved ones who have recently passed. All are welcome at the wheelchair accessible event, even if their loved ones are not interred at the cemetery.

The shrines will be kept lit throughout the memorial period from Oct. 25 to Nov. 1, during which live music will fill the cemetery’s contemplative surroundings in the evenings and on weekends.

Familiar shrines will light up with candles and personalized memorial box lanterns, including a new memorial to commemorate the lives lost to Vancouver’s toxic drug supply epidemic.

Also new this year, Mountain View Cemetery’s office windows transform into poetic lanterns themselves, and will feature poems curated by the City of Vancouver’s current Poet Laureate, Fiona Tinwei Lam. On Oct. 29 at 1 pm, the Poet Laureate will read from her book, The Rainbow Rocket, a story of a young boy and the death of his grandmother.

All Souls main activities for 2023

  • Memorial Box Lanterns Kits, Oct. 19 – Nov. 1: Kits will be available beginning Oct.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 Oct. 25.
  • Opening Ceremony, Oct. 25 | 6 pm: Beginning at sundown, a gentle ceremony will mark the official start of All Souls’ 19th year.
  • Public Shrines, Oct. 25 – Nov. 1: The public are invited to light candles, write messages, and leave personal memorials to remember their dead in an atmosphere of contemplative beauty.
  • Fiona Tinwei Lam Reading, Oct. 29 | 1 pm: Vancouver’s Poet Laureate will read from her book, The Rainbow Rocket. The reading will be followed by a hands-on opportunity for creating a personal ceremony with visual artists Keely O’Brien and Jessie Orr.
  • Online Mourners Tea, Oct. 29 | 7:30-9 pm: A community conversation about death and grieving through personal experience. To register, email info@nightforallsouls.com.
  • Closing Ceremony, Nov. 1 | 7-9pm: The annual walk to each of the shrines to close the All Souls event.

Additional musical features and spontaneous events will be announced on Facebook  and Instagram  throughout the memorial period.

All Souls history

All Souls at Mountain View emerged out of a collaboration between artists Paula Jardine and Marina Szijarto, who came together in 2005 to find artistic ways to honour the dead and provide opportunities for people to share their traditions in a gentle and tranquil atmosphere.

Since then, All Souls at Mountain View Cemetery has been touched, changed and inspired by the many artists, community participants and members of the public who have shared their love and regard for their dead.

For more information about All Souls, visit nightforallsouls.com .

Mountain View’s historic role in Vancouver

Mountain View Cemetery, located at Fraser Street and East 39th Avenue, opened in 1886 and is the only cemetery within Vancouver. Owned and operated by the City of Vancouver, the cemetery is an important civic space and provides interment options and event space.

The cemetery is an embodiment of Vancouver’s history, serving as the final resting place of almost 150,000 people, including several past mayors; veterans from World Wars; notable citizens such as Vancouver’s first lifeguard Joe Fortes and businessman and activist Yip Sang; and people of varied faiths, ethnicities, ages and contributions to Vancouver’s past, present and future.

For more information about Mountain View Cemetery, visit vancouver.ca/mountainview .

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