Compassionate Friends 28th Worldwide Candle Lighting Celebration

Congressional Cemetery will host a candle lighting on December 8 at 7pm as part of The Compassionate Friends 28th Worldwide Candle Lighting.

Families in the community who have suffered the loss of sons and daughters of any age deserve our attention and caring. At our cemetery we know the importance of remembering, honoring, and speaking the names of those we have lost.

Compassionate Friends is an international organization dedicated to “supporting family after a child has died.” This annual mass candle lighting is believed to be the largest such event on the globe. On the 2nd Sunday of December, families around the world who have lost a child of any age gather in groups or in homes to create a virtual 24-hour wave of light as it moves from time zone to time zone at 7pm local time for one hour.

Join us outside the gates of the cemetery to show families they are not alone, and that their loss is seen and heard and matters to us. Come gather at 7pm as we join the world “in lighting candles for one hour to honor the memories of the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and grandchildren who left too soon.”

Come support families remembering their loved ones of every age.

As part of our remembrance, we are decorating our Big Chair outside the cemetery with images of candles and creating an enormous collective wind chime on the cemetery fence together. We invite you to bring a wind chime or things that sparkle or shine to hang on the cemetery gate during the ceremony to add a beautiful sound to the candlelight on the grounds during the ceremony. (see a video of the 2023 wind chime.)

The DC Chapter of Compassionate Friends will be leading the ceremony and the public is welcome. If you are not able to be with us in person you can join in the international event online. Details HERE.

If you have questions or want to volunteer, email us at this link.

Host or Publisher Congressional Cemetery