Staying Up

A wake isn’t about waking.

It’s about watching.

The word comes from Old English, from a verb meaning to be awake, to keep watch. It’s kin to awake and watch, and by the Middle Ages it meant a vigil kept over the dead.

So the oldest wake was simple:

• someone stayed up
• someone sat close
• the night was shared

Neighbours came, and prayed, and talked, as the long night went on. Nobody was meant to be alone.

Today it may last an evening, in a hall. The idea is the same.

A wake is not a performance. It is company.