Live on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/lacuscmedical/posts/191083762639616

LOS ANGELES, CA – With the cancellation of all large gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Ceremony of the Unclaimed Dead will be live streamed. The Department of Decedent Affairs deeply regrets that it cannot hold a public ceremony this year. This decision was made to conform to current state and county emergency orders to protect the health and well-being of participants, staff and community members who normally attend this ceremony.

Local faith leaders will preside over the burial of 1,547 indigent/unclaimed dead in a single mass grave. The annual interfaith remembrance ceremony organized by the L.A. County Department of Health Services, Decedent Affairs in partnership with Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center Chaplains will hold a “virtual” ceremony at the Los Angeles County Crematory and Cemetery to remember and honor the unclaimed dead. To continue the tradition of honoring the unclaimed dead, event organizers will show a brief online ceremony on Facebook so Los Angeles County residents can watch safely from home.
 

About the Ceremony

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors conducts an annual non-denominational, interfaith burial ceremony. The interfaith ceremony includes the Lord’s prayer in various languages and a multiple of religions will be represented. This year’s public event will honor 1,547 individuals who passed away in 2017. A few days prior to the ceremony, ashes will be placed in a single mass grave with a marker indicating the year of cremation- this year it will read 2017. There is a three-year gap between year of death and burial to allow time for family members and loved ones to claim cremains.

The County of Los Angeles has been conducting burials of the unclaimed dead since 1896.