Over the past fifteen years, an unusual form of public mourning practice has been quietly spreading through German cemeteries and woodland spaces: the Trauerweg, literally a “mourning path” or “grief path.” Neither conventional memorial nor psychotherapy, a Trauerweg is a route through a landscape punctuated by stations intended to give physical form to experiences of … Read moreTrauerwege: Germany’s Emerging Paths of Mourning
Petals fell, poetry was spoken and honey tasted in memory of Steve Aydt, a longtime fixture, mover and shaker in the Texan counterculture scene and founder of the Eulessyinian Hot Tub Mystery Religion. I interviewed Steve on that subject in late 2024, and that interview is part of the second volume of the anthology Poetic … Read moreIn Memoriam: Steve Aydt (1963-2026)
Hmmm … The nonprofit in question appears to be https://www.littlewindphoneproject.org and while I see no reason to doubt their sincerity nor competence, I think they’re fundamentally missing the point. Wind phones gain from the DIY model; frictionless is not always better.
Humberto Beck writes for Public Books on the changing face of death in modern Mexico: After the Mexican Revolution ended in 1920, the country began the construction of one of its founding myths: an ideology of death, exemplified in Día de los Muertos, “the day of the dead.” The idea of Mexican death fulfilled a … Read more“Death in Mexico Means Something Different Now”
Mariam Vahradyan writes for Psyche: Many cultures around the world actively maintain relationships with the dead through storytelling, prayer and ritual. In Japan, for example, the spirits of the dead are welcomed during the Obon festival. For four days each year, families remember their ancestors by tending to graves, lighting small fires, and making offerings. … Read more“Why you should talk to your dead ancestors”
Click here to listen to episodes of Memento Morbid, a new podcast series from our friends at Morbid Anatomy: Fascinating, poignant, and surprisingly life-affirming conversations about death, the human condition, and life’s great mysteries.Join Joanna Ebenstein, founder of Morbid Anatomy, for Memento Morbid, a series of surprisingly life-affirming conversations around topics that tend to be deemed morbid. Meet … Read more“Memento Morbid”: new podcast series from Morbid Anatomy
Sally Hayden writes for the Literary Hub: The road wound upwards, past a sloping graveyard and cedar trees. We passed another hamlet of houses, and I started to spot various signs pointing towards the drifting post. Through a final flurry of trees, it at last became visible. There was a rectangular yellow post box—the “real” … Read more“Mail Between Heaven and Earth: On Japan’s Post Office For Letters to the Dead”
Based on the bestselling novel by Max Porter, Grief is the Thing with Feathers.
Rage against the dying of the light with Fall Out Boy’s memento mori/carpe diem anthem; a worthy addition to the canon.