Our death cafe in Annascaul and the topic we discuss is spreading spreading by word. It is amazing that people have an interest in talking about death , or maybe it isn’t. The tea and cake environment is very conducive to free and easy conversation.

The format of these meeting come from the layout and criteria that deathcafe use. Feel free to check them out as they have soem wonderfiul material on their site. The meetings are confidential, there is no agenda and no judgements are made . The Death Cafe is not a bereavement counselling forum. However it allows people a chance to openly talk about death and to be respectful of people’s ideas and points of view.

Some of the topics that come up

Issues that have come up in these cafes include:
At our death cafe in Annascaul we might discuss various subjects includung death doulas and how they assist a person in the last few months both in terms of health care, mental and spiritual planning

Other times we speak of how we conduct death ceremonies in churches. In recent times we now leave a space for families to speak openly about their dead. This is a great opportunity to celebrate the dead person’s life. We have spoken of Euthanasia and its merits and of one persons desire to change the legal framework in Ireland. In addition a person might not wish to be a bother to the family, friends and carers when she would reach an age that she would be becoming incapacitated.

Suicide is often a subject we talk about. We talk how it affects society and families and how the word has negative connotations . In addition the term impacts on the family and loved ones after a person dies. We have spoken about theologians including Karl Rahner who is a Christian of strong faith and how people even with strong faiths say that “they too may need help to die”.

The academics among us spoke of Michel de Montaigne’s essay where we continually wish to avoid . We have spoken about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross who wrote the book “On Death and Dying” which talks about the five stages of grief to include: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance

We have spoken about people who die in our society and where they have no known relatives and where efforts are made to identify the dead person. It is important to give recognition to those that have no identity. and to understand that dying alone is just so sad.

when’s the next death cafe ?

Next cafe on February 2023 24th at 7pm at Aido’s, Annascaul Cafe and Pottery. Contact us 0868035464 for more info and check out the deathcafe.com website. If you are looking for more information about our little cafe feel free to have a look at the following