Representatives

A representative within Field of Honour Full of Life is someone that symbolises a war victim by being present and standing behind ones grave during the commemoration. The age of the representative matches the person that he or she is representing. That why we call them representatives. A representative doesn't have to act or pretend to be this particular war victim. Each representative remains him/herself. He or she, with their living presence, symbolises someone whom is buried at the Field of Honour.

From experience we can say that this way of commemoration is an honourable experience where a large number of people are positioned in silence on this Field of Honour. The participants can feel connected to each other and the history that they represent. Because they give meaning and substance to the loss that has been suffered and the sacrifices that were made for peace and freedom - sacrifices from which we still benefit to this day.

The Field of Honour Full of Life commemoration is inspired on Systemic Ritual and family constellations. Which also use representatives. The representing on the Field of Honour Full of Life therefore has similarities with this method but in contrast with a constellation the representative on the Field of Honour remains themselves and is not asked about what he or she experiences and there are no interventions or movements that change the constellation. Because we realise that there could be all kinds of experiences, from a representatives perspective, during the Field of Honour Full of Life the representatives are escorted by a great number of experienced coaches and/or therapists whom possess relevant knowledge about the Systemic Ritual. They are there to help the representatives with questions on all different levels.

The story of family Wijler and the representatives

The family Wijler went into hiding during the Second World War. Unfortunately there isn't enough space anywhere to hide both parents and their two daughters. This means they'll have to go into hiding separately.  But the two daughters are betrayed and put on transport. When the parents find out they commit suicide. In this short feature the story of the representatives and how it feels to represent these parents (Dutch).