What: Summer So(u)lstice
Where: Royal Oak Burial Park, 4673 Falaise Drive
When: Today, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission: Free
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If someone suggested an afternoon at the cemetery, your first thought likely wouldn鈥檛 be: 鈥淗ey, that sounds like a good time.鈥�
Victoria artist Paula Jardine hopes to change your mind about that. She鈥檚 a Canadian pioneer in a rarefied field: the creation of community events honouring the dead through art.
Jardine is artist-in-residence at Royal Oak Burial Park, where today there will be free public entertainment 鈥� and yes, even a good time 鈥� on offer.
Summer So(u)lstice will offer a rollicking New Orleans-style brass band, a harpist and a choir. Wandering clarinetists will play in the woodlands and at a mausoleum. Poets will pen personalized poems for the public. There will even be vintage car display and refreshments.
It鈥檚 the eighth year Summer So(u)lstice has been held at Royal Oak Burial Park, one of the largest cemeteries in Western sa国际传媒.
There are just two annual events like this in the country 鈥� the other is the All Souls sacred celebration at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver.
Both are overseen by Jardine, their founding organizer. She鈥檚 the only cemetery-based artist-in-residence in sa国际传媒 curating such occasions.
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite unique,鈥� said the veteran artist, who has created community-art happenings of all sorts for decades.
Summer So(u)lstice isn鈥檛 your typical outdoor party. The central intent is to honour the dead with dignity and respect. Loved ones are memorialized in an enjoyable, uplifting 鈥� and even fun 鈥� manner through art. As well as music, and poetry, the event features the creation of personalized artworks: Summer So(u)lstice visitors are encouraged to write tributes to the departed on 鈥渕emory flags鈥� hung along terraces).
Between 150 and 200 people attend Summer So(u)lstice each year. Some have friends and/or family members buried at Royal Oak, the only not-for-profit municipal burial park in British Columbia.
Others come to mourn loved ones interred or cremated elsewhere.
A Psychology Today article once identified death as the No. 1 taboo subject in America.
Jardine says Summer So(u)lstice breaks through the traditional reluctance 鈥� and even fear 鈥� many North Americans feel about discussing death and mourning.
鈥淭his is something we really need. It鈥檚 a social event where it鈥檚 OK if you鈥檙e crying, because the person next to you is probably crying too,鈥� she said.
鈥淏ut there鈥檚 also going to be laughing and drinking tea,鈥� Jardine added, noting some families even bring picnics.
She first got the idea of social events honouring the dead after attending her own father鈥檚 funeral in Edmonton in 1995.
Jardine found it a disappointment: sterile, drab and alienating. 鈥淭here was no beauty involved. Just this kind of gothic, weird, expensive experience,鈥� she said.
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Before her father鈥檚 death Jardine had organized an annual event in Vancouver called Parade of Lost Souls. It was a community procession on Halloween through the back alleys of the Commercial Drive area. The intent was to 鈥渞eclaim鈥� Halloween as a sacred event to honour the dead.
The disappointment with her dad鈥檚 funeral 鈥� and her experiences with Parade of Lost Souls 鈥� led to her founding A Night for All Souls at Vancouver鈥檚 Mountain View Cemetery in 2005, followed by Summer So(u)lstice in 2010.
In preparation for A Night for All Souls, Jardine studied international memorial and funeral practices. She鈥檇 also travelled to England on a sa国际传媒 Council grant to meet with artists doing funeral-related work.
Jardine鈥檚 interest in artistic responses to death date back to 1971. She performed a parade led by the artist ManWoman at the Edmonton Speedway, doing a 鈥渄eath dance鈥� in a skeleton costume.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of opportunities in grieving and memorializing for art and beauty 鈥� I think that鈥檚 a fundamental impulsive, to completely embrace the dead with beauty,鈥� she said.
Her interest in creating opportunities for personalized responses to death extends to her own life.
When Jardine鈥檚 mother-in-law died last April, her daughter and husband hand-built the casket. The family had the body at home for a time before her interment at Royal Oak Burial Park.
Jardine has already planned her own funeral. She鈥檇 like to be buried in a biodegradable box on on Saturna Island. There will be a garden gate with a sign that says: 鈥淓veryone welcome 鈥� step through.鈥�
She鈥檇 originally wanted have a tree planted on the grave as well.
鈥淚 wanted to have an apple tree, so I could feed my great grand-children on my gave. I鈥檇 be literally feeding them. That was my idea.鈥�
However, Jardine has since changed her mind about that detail. The decision came after she placed some of her late grandfather鈥檚 ashes at the roots of a gooseberry bush as a living tribute.
鈥淚t bore a lot of fruit the first year. But I found I couldn鈥檛 quite put that in my mouth.鈥�
Royal Oak Burial Park hosts other public events. There鈥檚 the annual Little Spirits Vigil for families who鈥檝e lost babies. There鈥檚 also a Mother鈥檚 Day event in which carnations are given out.
Crystabelle Fobler, Royal Oak鈥檚 new executive director, says the park is considering a new venture that鈥檚 increasingly popular in North America. It is a 鈥渄eath caf茅,鈥� to be hosted by a funeral director.
鈥淧eople are getting together over tea and cookies, just talking about death,鈥� she said.
When Jardine tells new acquaintances she鈥檚 artist-in-residence at two cemeteries, they鈥檙e sometimes surprised.
Yet it鈥檚 anything but a conversation-killer. 鈥淧eople are so relieved to talk about it,鈥� she said with a smile, 鈥渟o I hear everyone鈥檚 death stories.鈥�