Worldwide Candle Lighting Memorial Service
The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting on the 2nd Sunday in December unites family and friends around the globe in lighting candles for one hour to honor the memories of the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and grandchildren who left too soon. As candles are lit on December 10th, 2023 at 7:00 pm local time, hundreds of thousands of people commemorate and honor the memory of all children gone too soon.
Now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on the globe, the annual Worldwide Candle Lighting (WCL), a gift to the bereavement community from The Compassionate Friends, creates a virtual 24-hour wave of light as it moves from time zone to time zone. TCF’s WCL started in the United States in 1997 as a small internet observance and has since swelled in numbers as word has spread throughout the world of the remembrance. Hundreds of formal candle lighting events are held, and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted in homes, as families gather in quiet remembrance of children who have died and will never be forgotten.
Add a Candle Lighting Program
IMPORTANT: If you attempt to submit your candle lighting service and we do not contact you or your service is not listed within 48 hours, please contact kathiek@compassionatefriends.org.
We also will be holding a virtual candle lighting for those who would prefer to attend virtually. We will have four programs in the
Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones.
Register below for your time zone.
Virtual Worldwide Candle Lighting
Every year you are invited to post a message in the Remembrance Book which will be available, during the event, at TCF’s national website. The Remembrance Book will be open to post a message Thursday, December 1st, through Friday, December 16th. Photos can be posted on our Worldwide Candle Lighting Facebook page.
The Compassionate Friends and allied organizations are joined by local bereavement groups, churches, funeral homes, hospitals, hospices, children’s gardens, schools, cemeteries, and community centers. Services have ranged in size from just a few people to nearly a thousand.
Click on your state below to view Worldwide Candle Lighting events in your area.
View International Countries
If you do not see a candle lighting program in your area, contact your local chapter to see if they are planning a program. Find a chapter.
Colorado
Boulder
Boulder County Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - Doors open at 6 PM with Service at 6:45 PM,
- Location:
Grace Commons Church, 1820 15th Street, Boulder CO 80302, USA
The church parking lot is on the west side of the church. There are metered spaces on the street as well as a public parking garage one block north of the church. Greeters will be at the west parking lot entrance to let you in the building. Oerter Hall is the location for the service, creating luminarias, displaying photos on our remembrance table and for socializing.
- Highlights:
Our program includes poems, live music, reading of loved one’s names, lighting of tapers and a slide show of loved one’s photos. Social time follows.
- Bring:
Bring a photo or other memorabilia to display on our remembrance table. You can also contribute light refreshments for our social time if you would like.
- Special Events (before):
Doors open at 6:00 PM, for those who would like to make an outdoor luminary (paper bag filled with sand and votive candle). We will provide supplies, but you may want to bring a paper photo of your child, sibling or grandchild to attach to the paper bag. Live music will begin at 6:30PM as we settle in for the service, which begins at 6:45 PM.
- Special Events (after):
Finger food and beverages will be available during our social time following the program.
- Contact:
- Debra Hansen
- Telephone:
- 720-588-0651
- Email:
- tcfbouldercounty@gmail.com
- Additional:
There will be an interpreter for the deaf for this service. She is a bereaved sibling and a bereaved mother who is sensitive to the way in which language, lyrics and music will be interpreted.
Arvada
Pamela Mainini
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6 PM
- Location:
Primary Purpose Family Recovery Center – 8250 W 80th Ave #12 in Arvada, CO 80005
- Bring:
A picture or remembrance, a piece of writing or poem that has been helpful in your grief journey – appetizer or non-alcoholic beverage (optional)
- Special Events (before):
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM – snacks, sharing, music and readings.
- Special Events (after):
none
- Contact:
- Pamela Ann Mainini
- Telephone:
- 530-574-1327
- Email:
- pamfamily423@gmail.com
Colorado Springs
Pikes Peak Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 7:00 PM
- Location:
First Baptist Church
317 E Kiowa
Colorado Springs CO 80903
- Highlights:
Video Presentation of our children, grandchildren and siblings, with special music and readings.
- Bring:
Members are asked to bring a snack for 10 or more: Cake, Cookies, Pie, Cheese, Crackers, etc.
- Special Events (after):
Holiday potluck will be held downstairs after the completion of our program.
- Contact:
- Stewart Levett
- Telephone:
- 719-534-0350
- Email:
- Stewlevett@msn.com
