Chinanews.com, Beijing, November 11 (Zhang Yuhui) Recently, the topic of "a 13-year-old girl holding a funeral for herself and inviting a friend to dinner" has aroused heated discussions. On the day of the ceremony, more than a dozen friends came, and the friends shared what they wanted to say, their views on death, the troubles they encountered in life, etc., and after the ceremony, the girl felt that she could finish her own meal, and she had no regrets in life, and she could continue to live her life.

How to "say goodbye" to yourself? What does it mean to "say goodbye" to yourself? This generation of young people began to carry out death education for themselves.

Say goodbye to the past with a funeral

Before turning 19, Jia Jia (not her real name) held a funeral for herself in the sunset by the sea. A long time ago, Jiajia had a lot of thoughts about death and funerals, in the past year, she was in a state of depression and difficult to express, after watching a video of a self-media blogger holding a funeral for herself, she decided to use a funeral to say goodbye to her past self and give herself an exit out of the past.

The scene of Jiajia's "funeral". Photo courtesy of the interviewee

"It took me a long time to make this decision, and I repeatedly wanted to give up this idea because I was afraid that my family would not understand and that no one would participate, but fortunately, the people around me were very supportive of my idea." After making the decision, Jiajia sent invitations to all her friends, and unexpectedly, they all took this somewhat ridiculous idea seriously and came to the scene to participate in the ceremony, and even many friends from other places watched it through the live broadcast.

Jiajia carefully designed the process for this funeral, the first part was an opening speech by herself, the second part was a memorial speech by family and friends, the third part was read by a friend, the fourth part was read by herself, and finally a friend expressed her grief and farewell. "I listened to my mother and friends give memorial speeches, and listened to my friends read my suicide note in the gentlest voice, with tears in my eyes; As I read the eulogy I had written to myself, I finally burst into tears... I lay on the beach and imagined myself really going to die. ”

In this ceremony, what impressed Jiajia the most was a friend's speech. Friends mentioned that they hope that Jiajia will no longer have low self-esteem in the future and be more confident, although they don't see each other much, they will always remember her. Jiajia posted the words written to her by her friends on a message board, and these sincere words made her feel a lot of emotion.

The scene of Jiajia's "funeral". Photo courtesy of the interviewee

When the funeral was over and the sun was setting, Jiajia felt like she had a new life. For her, the ritual was an opportunity to express herself and explore her self-worth, after which she was able to face things more calmly and become more confident. "I believe that death is a natural law, and death is not the end, but a new beginning."

Leave a posthumous photo in your youth

After the death of his family last winter, Hee Hee (not his real name) saw many portraits of the deceased when he was buried in his old age. Since then, Hee-hee has had the idea of taking a posthumous photo when she was young, thinking of leaving a beautiful photo of herself decades later.

Hee Hee said that her mother was a little unhappy about taking a posthumous photo of herself, because no mother would accept that her child would leave, and death was a taboo topic between mother and daughter. But Xixi believes that life and death are natural things, there is nothing to taboo, and what should come will always come.

"Life is something to celebrate, death is also worth remembering, I can't be sure when I died, but I can be sure of what is on my tombstone, so I took a picture while I was still young." Hee Hee said.

So, Xixi prepared a set of simple and elegant clothes, went to the flower shop with a bouquet of white flowers, communicated with the photographer about the style he wanted, and finally smiled in front of the camera and took a set of posthumous photos for himself.

Go to an event about death

Nowadays, some young people have the same idea, and activities on "doing things for yourself before you die" are being carried out in various places. Chinanews noticed that an activity studio is holding an event called "Life Traveler" in Beijing, Hangzhou, Changsha and other places.

During the event, participants can experience a virtual life, and after the experience, everyone can hold a funeral and take a photo of themselves according to their wishes. "Like that, I want to hold it by the sea, and talk and laugh and eat and drink with my friends around the campfire." Participant Wan Wan (not her real name) said that in order to fulfill her wish, everyone put pictures of the seaside in the background of the TV, and asked her to stand in front of her, laughing and laughing with her favorite songs.

The scene of the "Life Traveler" event. Photo courtesy of the interviewee

"When I was in college, I wanted to hold a funeral for myself while I was alive, and I applied for organ donation a few years ago, and I wanted to try to participate in this event when I saw it online." In the past few years, after experiencing various setbacks in her life, Wanwan's mentality has become more and more positive, and she can face death calmly, and at this time, Wanwan decided to attend a funeral of her own. Wanwan mentioned that she can accept her "departure" and hopes that everyone can be well and can see everyone's smiling faces.

A participant who could write poetry impressed Wanwan. The funeral he designed for himself was in a poetry exhibition, and at the event, he improvised a poem with the following sentence, "Don't hold a funeral, hold a solo exhibition, even if I am not famous, the people who come look at the works I have created with my life."

For Wanwan, this funeral event can be regarded as a place to confide in herself, strangers will not make her feel too much pressure, although there are many good friends who know her experience, but she feels that it will be different to confide, because good friends know the roots, and strangers of different young levels and different experiences will collide with the angle and perspective of the event, which can help her better understand herself and the world.

With the idea of going out and seeing the outside world, Wanwan attended her funeral. In this funeral, they no longer have taboos and concealments, but choose to face it calmly and talk about death together. (ENDS)