Posted
on December 8, 2013
All
around the world, at 7:00 p.m. local time, candles will be lit for
all children who have died in what is believed to be the largest mass
candle lighting on the globe.
I
have gone to some of these simple ceremonies, in which parents and
brothers and sisters, grandparents and aunts and uncles, gather
friends and relatives and light a candle as they remember a beloved
child who has died. Of course the occasions are solemn, but they are
also happy—we are happy that the child is being remembered, we are
happy to support the bereaved family, we are happy to share our love
with one another, we are happy to be a part of something wonderful
that has grown so large.
Compassionate Friends is the organization that promotes tonight's candle
lighting ceremonies.
One
particularly wonderful sort of candle lighting ceremony works well
with a really large group. Everyone has a candle—perhaps in a candleholder made from a styrofoam cup—and the leader lights
just two candles of nearby people. They, in turn, light two candles
each, and each person who has a lighted candle lights two candles. It
is beautiful to see the slow start but the surprisingly quick
(exponential) lighting-up of a crowd.
Of
course, most candle lighting ceremonies are small. In some the leader
lights just one large, central candle, and in others each person
lights a candle, often while briefly telling a memory of the child.
Another
wonderful event might be a candle making party. Whenever your
guests light up the candles they made, they will continue to think of
the child honored by the party.
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on this date:
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