Tuesday evening, Eagle Mountain City hosted its annual Children’s Day event. The event is an opportunity for parents and other loved ones to honor and remember children who have passed away.
Communities across the world honor Children’s Day by gathering to remember the lives of children at angel statues scattered throughout cemeteries across North America.
The angel statues are inspired by Richard Paul Evans’ book, The Christmas Box, in which a young father learns the value of spending time with family from an old woman who lost her child at a young age.
The first angel statue was erected at Salt Lake City Cemetery on Dec. 6, 1994, a year after The Christmas Box was published.
The statue, which represents hope and healing for families who have lost young children, has since gained popularity and can now be found in more than 120 different areas, including Canada and Japan.
Eagle Mountain City has honored Children’s Day each year since 2019, when the angel statue was erected at Pony Express Memorial Cemetery. The angel sits at the center of the cemetery’s Angel Garden.
Families who attended the Children’s Day ceremony remembered their loved ones by writing messages on wooden angel tree ornaments and hanging them on the cemetery’s live Christmas tree.
These messages are kept by the City Recorder’s Office and hung on the tree again each year, so families can revisit the messages to their loved ones year after year.
Children who are buried in the Pony Express Memorial Cemetery also have their graves lit up with the “light of the angels,” special solar-powered lamps dedicated especially for children who have passed.
The Children’s Day Ceremony culminated in the release of several floating paper lanterns, signifying hope and healing for mourning families and serving as a message of love for children who have passed.
Eagle Mountain City hosts its Children’s Day Ceremony on Dec. 6 each year. In addition to the families of those buried at the cemetery, the public is also welcome to attend and honor their memories.
