Four day festival in 2025

Thursday 30th October at Bethnal Green Library

In partnership with Tower Hamlets Libraries and Idea Stores, you’re invited to free events designed to open up honest conversations about death, dying, and grief. These topics affect us all, yet they often remain unspoken. Our goal is to break down these taboos and create a safe space for discussion and reflection. The afternoon will feature a film screening, a talk on end-of-life planning, and intimate roundtable discussions with a panel of professionals.

You’re welcome to attend any or all sessions. Book your free tickets now!

2.00pm - 3.30pm

Film Screening : Solitude with Schubert + Talk

A meditation on grief, connection and the healing power of music. Matilda Hay and Rachel Clara Reed’s film is an intimate portrait of how art can help us find meaning in loss, and the ways in which echoes of those we’ve loved and lost stay with us, and ultimately live through us.

4.30pm - 5.30pm

Planning for the Inevitable - Talk + Q&A

Ann Kenrick OBE will lead an informative, entertaining and thought-provoking session outlining key decisions you can make in advance, to ease the burden on your family and friends.

6.00pm - 7.15pm

Let’s Discuss Death: An Evening of Conversations

Attendees will circulate to different tables to hear from a brilliant assortment of death experts (including a funeral director, doctors and an end of life doula). After a brief introduction from each speaker, you’ll have the chance to engage in small-group conversations with them.

Friday 31st October at Redbridge Central Library

Come and find the Let’s Discuss Death team at Redbridge Central Library on Friday 31st October from 12pm to 5pm. There will be a vibrant celebration of life and death in this family friendly arts festival, inspired by festivals and traditions from around the world.

Everyone (big and small) is invited to come dressed up in brightly coloured clothes or their favourite Day of the Dead inspired costumes to join in with the celebrations and take part in the lantern parade – add some lights or glow sticks and you’ll be ready to light up the procession.

Saturday 1st November on Columbia Road

From midday Columbia Road will come alive to celebrate London’s Day of the Dead.
We’ll be keeping to Mexican time—so think of the timings below as a guide, not something to set your watch by!

Programme

  • 10.00am – Face painting available outside the school

  • 10.30am – Meet outside the school to gather for the cycle ride

  • 11.00am – London’s Day of the Dead Cycle Ride departs Columbia Road for Tower Hamlets Cemetery. Organised with Kidical Mass, this is a child-friendly ride. Please come dressed for the occasion—skulls, flowers, insects! The ride returns to Ezra Street around 12.30pm. Photographers will be on hand, so don’t be shy if you’d like to be captured in all your finery. Free tickets available here

  • 12pm London’s Day of the Dead Beauty Parlour opens. Get the look with fabulous artists. Book here.

  • 12.45pm – Yoga with Anu Kumar, local GP and choreographer. A gentle session to invite the spirits to return and to remind us of our earthly bodies. Two rehearsals will be held in London—see the Eventbrite page for details. No experience required.

  • 1.00pm – Dance Performance by Mexican choreographer Alondra, inspired by La Catrina.

  • 2.00pm – The Procession begins, led by Mariachi Las Adelitas, followed by the Colour Walk participants.

  • 3.30pm – Second Dance Performance by Alondra, continuing the La Catrina-inspired celebration.

Join us for a day of music, dance, colour, and remembrance.

If you’d like to support London’s Day of the Dead, please contribute to our Crowdfunder - any additional funds raised will go towards Let’s Discuss Death’s work with schools and the local community.

Sunday 2nd November at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

We will conclude our Day of the Dead celebrations with a reflective walk at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

The event begins at 2pm with a guided walk led by Ken, the park’s keeper. The focus of the walk will be on the unremembered dead and the stories of their lives. This is a free event but please follow the link to book.

Two women dressed in colorful traditional Mexican clothing and face paint inspired by Día de los Muertos, holding decorated umbrellas and accessories, celebrating outdoors.
Woman with detailed face makeup resembling a Day of the Dead sugar skull, featuring black and blue designs and black eye makeup, wearing a black headband, gold necklace, and black and white striped clothing.
A woman in a colorful traditional Mexican dress performing a dance at a street parade, surrounded by spectators and onlookers.
Child dressed in Day of the Dead skeleton face paint, wearing a black sombrero hat and a white jacket, standing indoors in front of a white paneled door.
Person wearing a painted sugar skull face mask, holding a black skateboard with white writing that says "All Guts No Glory," at a nighttime outdoor event with lanterns in the background.
A group of women wearing traditional Mexican dresses and sombreros playing musical instruments on a city street, with children and other people watching in the background.

Contact us

Interested in finding out more?

Do you have ideas for events we should be part of or should create?

Do you have any questions?

Please reach out and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible.