Round Trips to the Cemetery

 Written by Gary Holdgrafer

This is the third of a series of articles on green or natural burial from the Gabriola Green Burial Exploratory Committee (GGBEC).

Natural burial cemeteries are being planned as community space for relaxation and passive recreation as well as for internment. Residents are invited to spend leisure time there and to make cemeteries a main point of community interest. 

These cemetery grounds are located on suitable land in the natural environment often in a forested or wilderness area. This seems an opportunity for those wanting the wellness benefits of being in natuThe grounds of the Salt Spring Island Natural Cemetery are described as offering peaceful spots for contemplation and remembering, a rustic gathering place with fire pit for small celebrations and walking trails.

The Gathering Space of the Denman Island Natural Burial Cemetery has benches and a structure of plaques that commemorates the lives of people interred there. It is intended to welcome visitors. It is also used for small ceremonies and family gatherings, and suited for quiet contemplation. 

Elfi Shaw of GGBEC grew up in Germany. She recalls her experiences of sitting quietly on a cemetery bench among weeping willows during her school lunch breaks. Death was a part of the life in her small community. Everyone, including the children, were made aware of deaths and invited to participate in mourning before internment. Sitting among those previously mourned was quite natural.

Cemeteries are also being used to showcase art installations and have been described as places of artistic inspiration. There are many paintings of cemetery scenes by well known artists. One artist hung a painting on a living room wall for an occasional glimpse of peace and calm. Local artists eon Denman Island are engaged in the preparation of shrouds and in weaving basket containers and building biodegradable wood coffins. 

There is an Artist in Residence at the Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver who creates regular commemorative events honouring the dead. Those events recognize the important history in individual stories that add to the community narrative. That narrative is important to the community identity and is to be celebrated.

Terry O’Reilly, host of Under the Influence on CBC, had an episode on Tombstone Tourists: The Growth of Cemetery Tourism (June 10, 2021). He quipped that weddings have often been performed in cemeteries, giving special meaning to the words “Till death do us part”.

The term “social cemeteries” has been coined to describe the developing relationship between the community and its cemetery use. Using it for passive recreation and relaxation is seeing the cemetery in a different light as more than a burial ground. 

GGBEC imagines a natural burial cemetery available for community use and engaging the local artistic community on this Isle of the Arts. We understand that the communities on Denman Island and Salt Spring Island have embraced their natural cemeteries.

Our email address is naturalcemeterygabriola@gmail.com.

GGBEC was established at the request of Island Futures (IF) to explore the possibility of a green or natural burial cemetery on Gabriola with the support of IF. 

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