Sonja

Kmec

If Luxembourg is known for its diverse and multicultural population, this has not been evident at cemeteries until recently. In a conference that took place in Luxembourg city on the 28th October, Prof. Dr. Sonja Kmec discussed the growing number of new funerary rituals in the country and how they are being accommodated with stakeholders and an interested audience.

The Covid-19 pandemic is profoundly changing our habits. Across Europe, gathering are banned or restricted, even when it comes to saying goodbye to a loved one. In some countries, funeral ceremonies are limited to close relatives ; in others, gatherings are simply prohibited. Under pressure, the burial sectors are working hard - often at personal risk - to do as much as possible to undertake funerals and make them as humane and accessible as possible within the constraints of public health measures. A mission and a tough subject that the CeMi project - of which the University of Luxembourg is a part of – discusses on its blog this week.

In our multicultural North-Western Europe, cemeteries and crematoria gardens are places where different traditions and belief-systems need to coexist. But do they? 8 Universities, one of which is the University of Luxembourg, study migrant and minority cultural inclusion, exclusion focusing on cemeteries and crematoria as a highly sensitive ‘contact zone’. Called CeMi, this research project aims to identify and disseminate good practices.