On Saturday evening, at the Easter vigil in Tramin, we had our second child baptised. Although many families continue to practise this initiation ritual, even if they are not necessarily devout, the preference is to have the baptism on any other Sunday so it can be more private. Three years ago, we’d been asked if we wanted to use the Easter vigil service as an opportunity to baptise our firstborn. We weighed the pros and cons and found that participating saved us the hassle of organising everything ourselves. There would be a priest, a choir, and even a congregation, all readily available without us having to lift a finger. Back then, we were still living in the shadow of the pandemic, so the advantages felt compelling.

Growing up in Kurla, as someone who sang in the choir, I had a love-hate relationship with the Easter vigil. I loved the aura around the lighting of the candle, for example, and witnessing the sharing of the flame… how we steadily went from darkness to light. I loved the incantations at the beginning, how ‘Christ our Light’ moved between three octaves, reaching the crescendo when all of us seemed luminescent. What I didn’t necessarily look forward to were the adult baptisms, because there were usually at least 10 candidates who would be administered not only the sacrament of baptism, but also confirmation and communion. It made a service that was already long longer.