I sure enjoyed your description.
Easter vigils are something new to me, this year being only my second and the first year I was in the choir for it.
At our vigil everyone starts outside around the fire pit. All church lights are out and the processional goes into the chuch. All attendees are given unlit candles.
After everyone gets to their seat, the candles are lit. The mass begins and goes on for almost an hour, all still in the dark and with the candles lit. Which is really cool if you are in the choir as we need FLASHLIGHTS to see the music plus we have this lit candle thing going on.
Our choir director got real creative and wrote his own responsorials so we had all these handouts which half of us did not have. The cantors are all from the choir, of course, plus there’s something called a family litany, a little band kind of thing.
Heh. Well it went off okay, one baptism, four confirmations, no communions...didn’t know they had them. Finally after an hour the lights come on and the guys come around to collect the candles. Only everyone was confused and thought it was a collection for money so the baskets got filled half with burnt candles and half with Easter offerings.
Heh.
Frankly your Easter vigil sounds much more breath-taking. That bit about putting the words on the wall is cool as jiggling candles and flashlights is a bit dangerous don’t you know.
There were also new stations of the cross things up and we didn’t know if they were temporary or what but they were colorful and lilies were affixed below them on the stained glass windows.
At our vigil everyone starts outside around the fire pit. All church lights are out and the processional goes into the chuch. All attendees are given unlit candles.
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I really like that part of the ritual - waiting for the Risen Christ. Powerful symbolism.
We do exactly the same! Only problem is we never seem to have enough candles and some little kid without one starts to crying. I usually give him/her mine.