Farewells: Looking at rituals for endings
with Alex Dunkley
Tickets: https://ticketpass.org/event/ENJEUC/the-convivial-x-alex-dunkley
Our contemporary society operates on a myth of growth, ascension and immortality — all ways of thinking which inspire distraction, future focus, scarcity. But can tapping into the inevitability of endings help us to live with more presence, more cyclicality, and more abundance?
In this generative and reflective talk for The Convivial, musician, writer, story gatherer and funeral celebrant Alex Dunkley will explore the nature of endings and the rituals we use to support and process these. She will look at how we can begin to use our community better, to support us into holding space for death and begin to bring the care back into our own hands. She will also explore the ways in which funerals can be an opportunity to bring together all our imagination, storytelling and creativity.
How do funerals and end-of-life ceremonies act as a threshold with intention and purpose? How can thinking about death help us to live well? And how might tending to endings help us to embrace the cyclical nature of our existence?
Alex will draw from her nine years’ experience as an independent funeral celebrant and talk about the ways we might begin to be agents in changing the way we do funerals. For example — what might you like to be able to do differently? Have you thought about your own ceremony for when the time comes? How might a DIY funeral look - where might we start?
This will be an evening of hopeful and imaginative thinking that will provide some answers to the hidden world of funeral arranging and start you on your way to becoming quiet change makers in your communities.
Speaker
Alex is a musician, a writer, a story gatherer and a funeral celebrant. She weaves all three aspects of her work in and alongside each other kaleidoscopically. Alex explores how narrative can hold space for grief, joy, and everything in between. She’s deeply fascinated by the stories of our land and the songs they inspire.
She has been an independent funeral celebrant since 2016 with a keen interest in facilitating people to think creatively about their own ceremonies and helping them to find out that there are very few rules in the world of death. She is currently writing a book about this, as part of her Writing MA at Falmouth. When not leading community choirs or sitting in a library researching rituals, you’ll find her on the coast path, filling her pockets with stones and listening to birdsong on the wind. She has two daughters aged 23 and 14.
@alexdunkleywrites
@soulful.ceremonies
https://brackishbykatietreggiden.substack.com/p/brackish-s6-e7-alex-dunkley-and-blackberry
What to expect
6pm - arrive
6.30pm - talk begins
7.40pm - dinner (vegan) is served
8.10 - 9pm - Q&A/discussion
9-9.30pm - soft close, socialising
This event is BYOB - please bring along a drink to have yourself and/or to share! There is a SPAR shop just a few meters up the road. There will be a selection of soft drinks available at a low cost.
Venue
The Convivial, 18 Lower Market Street, Penryn
Please get in touch to talk about accessibility and your needs in the space.
Tickets: https://ticketpass.org/event/ENJEUC/the-convivial-x-alex-dunkley