Vigil (and wake)
A service held the evening before a major feast or a funeral.
A vigil is a service held the evening before a major Christian feast or a funeral. Vigils for major feasts (the Easter Vigil, the Christmas Vigil) are themselves celebrations of the feast, often the principal celebration in Catholic practice; Catholic Mass attendance on Christmas Eve or Easter Vigil counts toward the obligation of Christmas Day or Easter Sunday. A funeral vigil is held the evening before a Catholic funeral, often at the funeral home, with prayers, scripture, and a period of visitation; this is what is called a wake in US Catholic and broader US practice. The Orthodox Paschal Vigil and the Catholic Easter Vigil are among the longest services of the Christian year.