One Week, One Month, One Year
From Taylor Owynns, Funeral Celebrant
Tel: 0413 511 303

The following is a suggested Ceremony to assist with the release of grief or sadness for the loss of a loved one and to honour and celebrate their memory and mark their passing. It is a loving and compassionate ritual that, in various forms, is incorporated in many different faiths and belief systems. You need have no religious or spiritual beliefs to partake in this ceremony.

From the date of the passing of the person you loved,
make a date in your diary
One Week from the date of passing,
One Month from the date of passing
And finally, One Year from the date of passing.

This might be something you choose to do alone or that two or three family members and/or friends might do together, or indeed a large gathering.

On the dates marked, you then gather together in a way that seems appropriate to remember the person you loved.

The honouring may take the form of playing a piece of music they enjoyed, sharing a letter they have written or that you might be moved to write to them, telling jokes they loved to hear or tell, singing a song or just quietly sitting together with a lighted candle and sending prayers and your loving and positive thought … or all of the above, or something of your own devising.

You can gather at a place that is significant for the person you loved, at their burial site, under a special tree in a garden, round the kitchen table or, again, wherever feels ‘right’.

The Ceremony need not be too long or complicated…the most important thing is that you bring your loving thoughts and memories to the celebration.