Vigil

A Vigil is a period of night watchfulness or vigilance in keeping awake and alert, either voluntarily or involuntarily. It may extend through only a part of the night, or through the entire night or period of darkness as dictated by necessity or according to custom or assigned duty.

Students frequently keep an all night vigil dedicated to intense studying before an important day of exams (examination exercises) the next morning which will determine their academic standing for the subsequent period or term or year.

An important event is often the occasion of a sleepless vigil the night before: for example, a wedding, an ordination, a trial in court; or anticipating the achieving of a long-desired goal.

Responsible and conscientious veterinarians and managers and owners/trainers of livestock keep vigil with injured and sick animals, and with those about to give birth.

Family members at the bedside of a sick or dying relative often keep vigil around the clock together with medical and nursing personnel.

Communities often distressed by injustice, violence and crime hold vigils in response to grief, outrage or mourning over a tragedy, and as demonstrations of public protest and expressions of community solidarity with victims and their families, often lasting through the night, and sometimes for days around the clock. Some faith groups regularly, even continually, post vigils near and around abortion clinics.

Combat personnel and civilians facing the certain and immanent approach of deadly danger to come on them in the morning, and prisoners scheduled for execution, involuntarily keep a wakeful vigil all through the night in fearful anticipation of death.

In military and nautical terms a regular vigil is called a watch, as for example a night-watch or sentry-posting for security against intrusion or attack. Prisons assign suicide watch to prevent condemned prisoners from attempting suicide to escape execution or life-sentences without parole. Hospital, police and security personnel frequently refer to the regular posting or assignment to the night shift as the "graveyard shift", normally eight hours of duty.

In ancient times there were four night watches of vigilance:

first watch (1800-2100 hrs) during the first through the third hours of the night

second watch (2100-0000 hrs) during the fourth through the sixth hours of the night

third watch (0000-0300 hrs) during the seventh through the ninth hours of the night

fourth watch (0300-0600 hrs) during the tenth through the twelfth hours of the night

The first watch normally began at sunset and the last watch normally ended at sunrise.

In modern times military vigils of readiness often precede special operations against insurgents.

In Religion a vigil is undertaken as an exercise of devotion or is assigned or voluntarily undertaken as a penance.

The first mention of a vigil in the Bible is the night of the Passover, when the Israelites departed from Egypt during the night with a mixed group of foreigners. (Exodus 12:29-42)

Other translations render the phrase as "a night of vigil unto the Lord". See Exodus 12:42 at biblehub.com

The traditional duty of disciples of Jewish Rabbis on the night of the pasch was to make certain their teacher remained awake through the night.

In the Gospels Jesus tells his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of the Passover to "remain here and keep watch", but they failed to do so (Matthew 26:38-45; Mark 14:34-41). The Jewish tradition of the paschal vigil following the Passoever seder is the reason the Sanhedrin was awake when Jesus was arrested and remained awake all night long (Luke 22:54-71).

Christian tradition also observes a vigil of prayer and worship beginning the Saturday evening and night before Easter Sunday morning in particular, as well as other liturgical vigils assigned as special observances throughout the Church year.

The Orthodox Churches have a centuries-old traditional All-Night Vigil of great ritual beauty on the night before Easter Morning. Catholic vigil worship services can last from one to four hours, and sometimes from late afternoon through evening even until midnight.

Christmas Midnight Mass is a vigil of the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, based on the traditional interpretation of Wisdom 18:14-15 as a prophesy of the birth of Jesus.

Christian monks and hermits, and knights through the Middle Ages kept vigil the night before taking their final vows or receiving from the sovereign the accolade (knighting), or before setting forth on some great mission or task.

Saints and mystics in a variety of religious traditions often voluntarily keep long vigils for the purpose of self-denial of the body, and to seek visions of transcendent reality or personal experiences and revelations of God. The Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha in his search for enlightenment repeatedly kept extraordinarily extended vigils, and fasted to such an extreme over a period of years that his spine was visible through the skin in the front of his abdomen. He reached the conclusion that such severe methods do not bring one closer to spiritual freedom or enlightenment.

St. Paul cautioned against such austere practices in his letter to the Colossians (2:23). He himself frequently kept vigils of prayer for the church (2 Corinthians 11:27 "sleepless", "watchings").

Many devout Christian fundamentalists and churches reject the ancient Christian practice of religious vigils as unwitting participation in the pagan worship mandated and imposed by Constantine in a syncretistic corruption of true worship which is against Christ (1 Timothy 4:1). This teaching is disputed as having no historical basis.
See ''The Two Babylons'' and Great Apostasy.

External links[edit]

• Vigil - Merriam-Webster Dictionary (merriam-webster.com)
• Vigil - Dictionary.com
• Vigil - Vocabulary.com
• Vigil synonyms and antonyms (thesaurus.com)
• General Orders for Sentries - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
• Special Forces - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) This article includes reliable links to authorized sites and sources.
• Vigil - 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (en.wikisource.org)
• Vigil: Topical Bible (biblehub.com)
• The Passover Ceremony (seedofabraham.net) The article discusses staying awake all night.
• Passover - Encyclopedia of the Bible (biblegateway.com) A detailed article in depth.
• The Passover Night - Sermon 232 (avoiceinthewilderness.org)
• All-Night Vigil (orthodoxwiki.org)
• Keeping Vigil (baylor.edu)
• The Ceremony of Knighthood (knight-medieval.com)
• Easter Vigil Reflection, Laura Kazlas (acatholic.org)
• Eve of a Feast (Vigil) - Catholic Encyclopedia (newadvent.org)
• Vision quest (en.wikipedia.org) Includes information regarding Native American traditions, and New Age practices of undertaking long vigils with fasting, sometimes irresponsibly, which have ended in death (Culpable negligence).
• Should Christians celebrate Easter? (Grace Church International) (gci.org) Celebrations rooted in pagan religion.
• Candlelight Vigils (puritans.net) "...the early Christian church seems to have avoided things like candlelight vigils, but over time the Romish Church has embraced them."