Writeup - First Death Cafe in Denmark
A write up of DødsCafe København / Death Cafe Copenhagen
By Ellen Hansen
We held the first DeathCafe in Copenhagen, Denmark – and it was an inspiring event for all participants – and us the two hosts. We were 11 people. There was 14 that have signed up, but 3 of them had to cancel. We had send invitations a month before the cafe per email to people that we knew and thought would be interested.
We had a very short introduction about DeathCafes and our interests in holding them. We were sitting around two tables in the same room. There was a lot to talk about. We shared thoughts and feelings and our focus was a lot of different issues connected to death. It was a pleasure that there was no structure but instead a possibility to really connect with others and feel inside yourself the resonance with the issues that came up. There was stories and questions and everyone participated.
Here is some of the comments that were expressed at the end of the cafe:
- Feeling joy, happiness
- Feeling light
- An experience of connectedness
- Feeling touched
- Thankful
- Nice to talk about life and death
- A good experience that no one has the truth or the correct answer. Instead there were a deep kind of listening.
- Surprising to have deep talks with people you never have met before
- The cake and café-setting made it easier
There was laughter and there was sometimes a little silence. It was a fantastic experience. The hosts Ellen and Karin will definitely continue holding DeathCafe’s – and the participant said that they want to come to another cafe and that they will recommend to others.
One of the participants was a journalist, which had contacted us. She was invited under the condition that she came as a participant and afterwards could write about her own experience (but not cite others). We are eagerly awaiting the article.
Karin and Ellen