Easter Vigil Fire at Holy Spirit Parish

For some years members of Troop 583 have lit and cared for
the Easter Vigil fire for the church ceremony that evening.
As it often happens we had fairly high winds, and
although it sprinkled and threatned rain,
there was high fire danger due to the very dry conditions and continuing drought.

We erected one of the troop canopies in case it might rain (as it did 2 years previous.)
It had lightly rained in the morning, and was heavily overcast much of the day.
It did not rain this day, but we were prepared.
Rev. Msgr. L. Brum came by as we were setting it up and guying it down, and appreciated the effort.

The Scout chosen to lay the fire needed to demonstrate his skill for advancement.

The group participating. Most of the troop who were in town for the holiday.

The Fire is lit and blessed.

The Paschal Candle gets lit. No eyebrows were singed.

The fire burns down, then is extinguished.

One of the additional elements of this event is that we add the unused holy oils
from the previous year to the fire to use them up. Other than the oils the fire
is made of a bit of newspaper and some cut and split bits of old very dry cedar fence,
which seems eager to burn.