With its rolling hills and views of the North Shore mountains, Vancouver鈥檚 only cemetery could be described as beautiful 鈥� and, on certain occasions, lively.
Mountain View Cemetery was host to the 13th annual All Souls night on the last Saturday of October, where crowds gathered to celebrate the lives of those lost. The event is held outside with glowing shrines that stand brighter by way of lit candles as night rolls from dusk to darkness. Musicians played their low melodies; Mark Haney, the composer-in-residence at the cemetery, set up his upright bass near one of the cemetery fountains. The evening air was still warmish, unusual for this time of the year, so no need for fingerless gloves for Haney and the others.
鈥淚 remember one year, it was pouring rain, windy, and there was lightning,鈥� he said.
Other musicians, mostly students of fiddler and composer Oliver Schroer who died in 2008, played music in his honour as part of a living shrine. A Swedish fire log burned from the inside out on one of the main paths. The Celebration Hall was open for tea and for those who wanted to make a personal note for a memorial.
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Three towering trees near the cemetery offices were decorated: one with red dresses hanging from its lower branches in honour of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, one with white flags and a naloxone kit in a light box for those who have fallen victim to fentanyl overdoses, and the third 鈥� poems written on mirrors for those lost to suicide.
All Souls is a week-long project curated by local community artists Paula Jardine and Marina Szijarto that began this year with a personal memorial workshop and ends with a closing night procession Nov. 1. Other events included a mourner鈥檚 tea, musician Leah Abramson鈥檚 show Songs for a Lost Pod, a documentary and a calm Halloween night with harpist Janelle Nadeau.
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For Jardine, acknowledging the dead is something she has focused her work on for years 鈥� from co-starting the now-defunct Public Dreams Society (famous for starting East Van鈥檚 Parade of Lost Souls) with Dolly Hopkins and Lesley Fiddler in 1985 to a funeral-based research project in England out of which came the idea to host a show on artist-made caskets and shrouds more than a decade ago. She approached innovative Mountain View manager Glen Hodges, who was receptive to the idea of having artists work at the cemetery.
鈥淭he Parade of Lost Souls was grounded in a community shrine鈥� and, for me, it was about bringing a deeper understanding of Halloween for my children and to try and understand my ancestral traditions that weren鈥檛 given to me,鈥� Jardine said, referring to her Ukrainian/Scottish heritage.
鈥淎fter doing the Parade of Lost Souls, my dad died, on Halloween. It felt like, now it鈥檚 personal. This time of the year is personal. So, in a lot of ways, I do this event to honour my dad and my grandpa who both passed away, and for all our ancestors. It really feels like we are reaching an important tradition here for things we crave as humans 鈥� community and connection. And we shouldn鈥檛 mourn alone.鈥�
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All Souls is an ancient tradition for many, particularly Catholics. The days at the end of October through early November are considered an important time to honour the dead through celebration. While All Souls at Mountain View happens the Saturday before Halloween 鈥� the day of the year when the veil is said to be thinnest between this world and the spirit world 鈥� Jardine says the event is not specific to one particular culture.
鈥淚n any Catholic country, this is the time of the year people come to the cemetery to clean the graves, and they eat and they sing. They light candles in a lot of eastern countries, too 鈥� the cemetery is HOT with candles,鈥� she said. 鈥淎gain, working from the outside in, I didn鈥檛 grow up with that but I long for it. It feels really good as an artist to be of service to the community like this, to be doing something that people really need.鈥�
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