Vigil

It means:
1. a. A watch kept during normal sleeping hours.
b. The act or a period of observing; surveillance.
2. The eve of a religious festival observed by staying awake as a devotional exercise.
3. Ritual devotions observed on the eve of a holy day. Often used in the plural.

As we do every year, my church began the Easter celebration by a roaring fire outside, where everyone passed a flame from candle to candle. The procession moved inside where the lights remained out through the first seven readings. The priest said the initial blessing beneath a plain wooden cross, far less of a spectacle than the ceremony I saw yesterday. Our pastor has a sense of humor and cracked some good-natured jokes, and I could sense my dad squirming. Most of the time he goes to a different parish than my mother and I, because he can't stand a priest not being serious. Usually he says something about it, and since his voice gets louder the worse his hearing gets, it tends to be embarrassing. This year he managed to hold his tongue, even during the announcements at the end when the priest quipped that there would be no sunrise mass tomorrow because he “wasn't gettin' up early.” On the way to the car, my dad's only real complaint/observation was, “How can anyone understand him through that beard? He was mumbling the whole time!” I sometimes wonder if my dad has some weird bias against facial hair. He himself has always been clean-shaven, and the four years of college during which I wore a goatee led to many confrontations. When it was time to graduate I was tired of hearing that I “wouldn't find a job lookin' like a bum” and found it easier to shave. Sometimes I miss it. I'd say it was my dad's hearing though, and not the priest's beard, that spared him from anything said that he might have found objectionable.

There's something hypnotic about fire. I don't think this qualifies me to be a pyromaniac, but whenever I've had the occasion to look at fire, whether on a camping trip, or a religious observance, or birthday celebration, it is fascinating to look at and think about the science by which heat and light are created. It's also really cool to watch wax melt, and tilt the little holder to make different shapes. Former neighbors gave my parents a really cool gift years ago, a golden pyramid-shaped candle. There were little plastic trinkets inside the candle, “treasures” that would be revealed as the wax melted. I had a lot of fun watching that burn.

Many Christians are keeping watch tonight for their risen Lord by candlelight. Candles are often used in this way. When a soldier in a family is away at war, they may keep a candle burning in their window. Candles may be used to honor those fallen in a tragedy. The sight of a crowd holding candles aloft instantly evokes the emotion being expressed, and has been used successfully in movies like Pay it Forward as well as comics like Avengers Disassembled.

How do you like to demonstrate vigilance?