St Joseph’s School Stratford pupils visit Kopuatama Cemetery

Emily Henchman, 11, and Emma Megaw, 11, were two of the pupils who took part in the All Soul's Day Celebrations. Photo / Alyssa Smith

St Joseph’s School Stratford pupils celebrated All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day earlier this month.

Each year school pupils visit the Kopuatama Cemetery on the Friday following All Souls’ Day to pray and lay flowers on the graves. With heavy rain on the Friday, November 3, the visit was changed to Monday, November 6 this year.

Teacher Miriam van der Lee says the school pupils gather flowers and greenery to make posies for the graves.

“We get a lot of help from the wider community for this. The posies are something we place on the graves to let people know they’re not forgotten. Each posy has a prayer card attached to it.”

Pupils from Years 1, 2, 6 and 7 created the flower bunches. Miriam says the classes work together and have the chance to speak about loved ones they have lost.

“The senior pupils help our younger ones make the posies. It’s a time when they can speak about All Souls’ Day and what it’s about.”

She says the school gets positive feedback about their posy making.

“One year a woman from Auckland wrote to us. She had discovered she had family buried in Stratford and when she came to find them, she saw the prayer cards on the graves. She said it was a comfort to know that her family and others hadn’t been forgotten.”