Deadname Funeral 2025 - A Celebration of Transition

Art by @rubeladrops

Thursday, October 9, 2025, 6:30pm to 8:30pm
St Brigid's Villa, Ignatius Jesuit Centre, 5420 Hwy 6 N, Guelph ON  N1H 6J2
Free

Join us around a bonfire in the woods for a group ceremony to honour the transitions 2-spirit, trans, and gender-diverse people move through.
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This is a community ritual to celebrate trans joy and becoming. A space to have your journey of gender discovery and expression witnessed and affirmed among peers. An opportunity to release the expectations and confines of the gender binary. A recognition of your magic.

​This ceremony is for trans, two-spirit, nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender-diverse folks. Whether you are just realizing you are nonbinary, or you medically transitioned 15 years ago--your stories are important. You don’t need to have changed your name, or consider an old name a “dead name” to be welcome here. Allies and cis loved ones are welcome to attend in a supportive role. Designed for an adult audience.

The ceremony will include a combination of reflecting on your journey thus far and giving gratitude to those who have supported you along the way. Then you’ll be guided through a group process of constructing a sculpture to be burned in the fire--a meditation on the destruction and creation cycle that is part of stepping more fully into who you are. All participation is optional. New this year: there will be a 30 min open mic section of the ceremony for folks to contribute a story, song, or poem about their gender journey; sign up at the event for a 5 min slot.

Hosted at the Ignatius Jesuit Center, St. Brigid's Villa, 5420 Hwy 6 N, Guelph, ON. The event will run on Thursday, October 9, 2025 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Volunteers will direct you from the main entrance to the site. Limited parking is available directly at the site—carpooling is recommended. This location is not easily accessible by public transportation, email event hosts if you need a ride. Full-service washrooms are available. Ceremony site is an approx 2 minute walk along flat grass from the parking lot. The event is outdoors, so please dress for the weather. Please bring a folding chair or blanket for sitting around the fire. If it’s rainy or quite chilly out, we will be indoors part of the time (air purifiers will be running). We'll begin at 6:30pm and go until approximately 8:30 pm, with time to socialize afterward. If you have any suspected COVID symptoms or have tested positive in the last 10 days prior to the event, please stay home as a way to keep everyone as safe as possible. This is a mask-positive space.

We’re looking for volunteers to help with set-up from 5:30pm to 6:30pm, and clean-up from 8:30pm to 9pm. Contact event hosts if you’re available to volunteer.

This event is free. Donations to cover event costs are welcome and appreciated (like space rental, paying our poster artist, sponsoring some soup from Community Fewd). Thank you to Ignatius Jesuit Centre for generously subsidizing the rental fee of the space.

Poster art by Ruby, @rubeladrops
Organized and facilitated in collaboration between Chris Lafazanos (they/them) of Woven Threads - Handcrafted Ceremonies and Summer Lodewyks (she/her). Event contact is Chris at [email protected].