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.
Louisiana
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6 PM
- Location:
Fellowship Hall of the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge – 8470 Goodwood Boulevard – Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA
Our service will begin promptly at 6 PM, with the lighting of our individual candles to begin at 7 PM.
- Highlights:
Our participants/readers are children and great grandchildren of our members. Each family member will get to speak their loved one’s names during the lighting of our individual candles. Inspirational music is also a big part of our program. We will also have a lighted tree decorated with themed ornaments that families may take home afterward.
- Bring:
We encourage those attending to bring a picture of their loved ones as well as food to share during our social time after our service is concluded.
- Special Events (after):
We will be enjoying the food our attendees provide, as well as being able to visit with each other.
- Contact:
- Sharon Aycock
- Email:
- ajaycock@bellsouth.net
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:00 - 8:00 PM
- Location:
Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge
8470 Goodwood Blvd
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 70806
- Highlights:
Memorial Service in the Sanctuary
Potluck dinner to follow in the Fellowship Hall
- Bring:
Please bring a picture of your loved one(s) to display on tables.
Also for the potluck dinner, bring a dish to share with others.
- Special Events (before):
Special poems will be read by chapter volunteers. This ceremony will include favorite selection of music. The lighting of the memorial candles will occur at 7 PM. Ornaments will be giving to each family who attend.
- Special Events (after):
Potluck dinner will include some of our loved ones’ favorite foods.
- Contact:
- Vic Cross
- Telephone:
- (225) 287-5289
- Email:
- viccross@eatel.net
Monroe
TCF of Northeast Louisiana
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:30 PM
- Location:
Grace Episcopal Church
1400 North 4th Street.
Monroe, LA. 71201
- Highlights:
Live singing
Reading Poems
Lighting candles
- Bring:
Bring pictures of your children, grandchildren, siblings,
Candles will be provided for you.
- Contact:
- French Smith
- Telephone:
- 318 388-1660
Lake Charles
TCF Southwest Louisiana
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:30 PM
- Location:
Safe Harbor Welcome Center
The University United Methodist Church
3501 Patrick St, Lake Charles, LA
- Bring:
Picture of your children, grandchildren, and siblings to be added to the memory table, and a covered dish to share at end of ceremony.
- Special Events (before):
Opening introductions, readings at 6 PM
Candle lighting promptly at 7 PM
- Special Events (after):
Potluck after the candle lighting.
- Contact:
- Molly Hoskins
- Telephone:
- 337-3756357
- Email:
- mollyhoskins75@gmail.com
