Death Cafe: Why strangers are talking about dying over tea
· Axios
More strangers are gathering over cake and tea to chat — about dying.
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Why it matters: Death comes for all of us. Meetups known as Death Cafes help make talking about it less taboo.
Catch up quick: The concept launched in 2011 in East London, according to the Death Cafe site.
- Now, groups meet all over the world, in many types of settings. More than 11,000 are listed in the U.S.
How it works: Death Cafes allow for "a tangible, factual, honest conversation around death," Aly Leija, 33, tells Axios. She's attended events virtually and in person in San Antonio.
- After participants introduce themselves and share what brought them to the group, discussion topics range from mortality to cremation and burial options.
Between the lines: A Death Cafe is not "a grief group, a counseling session, or a place to push religious or other spiritual agendas," Leija says.
The bottom line: Talking about death is "a crazy good reminder to live every single day," she says, a death doula herself who sits with patients at the end of their lives.
- You know the phrase YOLO?
- "I like to argue that you only die once, [but] you live every single day," Leija says.