A bit of serendipity and old english tradition

We’ve been up and running in our Hall Green branch for a few months now but thought it was about time we threw open our doors, invited our friends and neighbours to have a look around and had some sort of official opening ceremony.

The fact that our chosen date happened also to be Halloween felt very much like serendipity, and has come as little surprise to those that know us.

Although in modern times it is seen as a time for dressing up in spooky costumes and having fun,  Halloween (or All Hallows Eve) dates back thousands of years to pagan times when the Celts, a farming community, marked the end of the summer and harvest with the festival of Samhain. Seen as the time of ‘dying’ in nature it symbolised the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The Celts believed that on the night of 31st October, ghosts of their dead would revisit the mortal world.

Years later Christian Festivals were celebrated, such as “All Hallows’ Day”, also known as “All Saints Day” in honour of the Saints and people who died for their beliefs. Originally celebrated on 13th May, Pope Gregory (8th Century) had the date of the All Hallows’ feast moved to 1st November. It is thought that in doing so, he was attempting to adapt the Celtic Samhain festival of the dead with a similar but church approved celebration. On the 2nd of November was All Souls’ Day – a day dedicated to remembering the dead.

And since a huge part of what we do as undertakers is to help people remember the dead, the 31st October felt like a poignant moment for us to share our new space with everyone.

Remembering the Dead

To highlight the role we play in remembering the dead, we set aside a space inside our new premises for quiet reflection. A sort of mini art installation, using the display we’d created in September for our 10th birthday Celebration of Lives ceremony, we displayed photos of people whose funerals we’ve arranged over the years and projected on the wall the short videos of family stories we have been producing this year.

The lighting of candles for the dead was also a christian tradition amongst european nations, and a part of the ‘All Hallow’s Eve” festival. So whilst the lighting of pumpkins is a more recent American tradition – being the modern funeral director that we are – we combined the two with our own A Natural Undertaking imagery (a tricky task but I do believe the team did a brilliant job!) in order to observe this tradition of remembrance.

Even ‘trick or treating’ has some origins in the past -people would knock on doors and be given food in exchange for songs and prayers for the dead. On the night before ‘All Souls’ Day’ this was known as ‘souling’ and they would receive soul cakes and spiced ale for their endeavours. 

Needless to say our visitors were treated to some homemade soul cakes or a slice of cake which was very kindly made by our very own Xander’s mum, Lisa, and our own version of hot spiced ale (and we didn’t even make them sing!).

A calm, comforting space

It was lovely to see so many people stop by, chat and see the space that we have created.

We believe that time and space is really important for people when someone they care about has died so we’ve put a lot of thought into how the environment feels for someone in that position.

Creating something peaceful, calm and comforting has always been a priority for us, whether it’s the space people come into to make arrangements or the space where they visit the person who has died. 

We believe this also to be a reflection of the way in which we care for the dead themselves. And whilst the spaces in which they are cared for will always be functional, they are clean and tidy and the people themselves are cared for in as natural a way as possible and checked upon regularly until the time of their funerals.

A huge thank you to Ross Hickton also who came and patiently untied our orange organza bow in his capacity of Vice President of SAIF (Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors) – hereby declaring us well and truly open!