Death Cafe: Why strangers are talking about dying over tea

More strangers are gathering over cake and tea to chat — about dying. Why it matters: Death comes for all of us. Meetups known as Death Cafes help make talking about it less taboo. Catch up quick: The concept launched in 2011 in East London, according to the Death Cafe site . Now, groups meet all over the world, in many types of settings. More than 11,000 are listed in the U.S. How it works: Death Cafes allow for "a tangible, factual, honest conversation around death," Aly Leija, 33, tells Axios. She's attended events virtually and in person in San Antonio. After participants introduce themselves and share what brought them to the group, discussion topics range from mortality to cremation and burial options. Between the lines: A Death Cafe is not "a grief group, a counseling session, or a place to push religious or other spiritual agendas," Leija says. The bottom line: Talking about death is "a crazy good reminder to live every single day," she says, a death doula herself who sits with patients at the end of their lives. You know the phrase YOLO? "I like to argue that you only die once, [but] you live every single day," Leija says.

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