Word: vigil
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Students clutching small candles gathered in the biting cold last night on the steps of Memorial Church for a vigil to recognize the alleged plight of workers in the grape fields of California...
...first speaker at the hour-long vigil expressed anger at the Harvard community for its reaction to serving grapes in the dinning halls...
Christianity appropriated the festival in the ninth century with the establishment of All Saints' Day. This liturgical observance was meant to honor the lives of Catholic saints and was held on Nov.1. The Church designated the preceding evening vigil as All Saints' Eve, but both holidays became known by their more vulgarized names: All Hallow's Day and All Hallos' Eve. In 998, the Abbot of Clugny instituted an accompanying celebration on Nov. 2, which became known as All Souls' Day. Thus, the Church used this two-day period to commemorate the entire deceased community of Christians, and both holidays...
...Christian festival of All Hallows' Eve maintained its connection to deep spiritual anxiety. Also inherited from pagan times was the belief that the vigil represented a relaxation of the border separating the world of the spirit from the human sphere. All Hallows' became associated with witches, elves, fairies and all their manifestations (e.g. black cats); it was thought to be a time of unprecedented, frightening spiritual interference in mortal lives...
...Candlelight vigil and prayer for freedom in Swedenborg Chapel...