Irish culture has a strong tradition of remembrances and memorials for the deceased. As far back as Celtic times, community festivals like Samhain were celebrated as liminal / threshold events, held when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld was thought to have been thinned. The Irish culture evolved over time and gave rise to other distinctive family and religious remembrance traditions such as month’s mind and Cemetery Sunday. The evolution of Irish culture continues as people are now living in smaller family units which are increasingly more mobile, more suburban and urban, more diverse, more pluralistic, and less prescriptive and dogmatic in their religious affiliations. As a result, the need for remembrances remains, but the conventional ceremonial rituals are progressively less relevant for an increasing portion of the population.
Cork Unitarian Church values remembrances. Remembrances help us to embrace a broader continuity of life by practicing:
- Respect – Honour those who have lived / died before us
- Connection – Reflect on how our own lives have been made more meaningful by those past lives
- Healing & Growth – Examine how we have reconciled and adapted to those losses (which also prepares us for future losses)
- Community – Come together, in mutual support, with people who are important to us
- Responsibility – Introduce our children to a controlled and respectful understanding of human mortality and model for them how to deal with death and loss
Cork Unitarian Church can assist you in creating memorial and remembrance services that are meaningful for you, your family, and your group/organisation. We can customise the ceremony to what is most appropriate to your situation and we can add the spiritual dimension of recognising the presence of the Divine in our lives and deaths.
Perhaps you are looking for a location for your service and would like to consider holding it in a sacred space like Cork Unitarian Church.
We can assist you in combining live streaming with your memorial. This would allow you to hold your live event and include remote participation from family and friends located across Ireland and the world.
Our convenient location in Cork City Centre provides easy access to our venue and many choices for post-event get-togethers.