A Tour of the Tower: Candle Lighting

Soprano1 and her assistant, Peck, take a seat in the Common Room with a large, wonderfully old-smelling leather-bound book.  The title reads Ravenclaw Tower: A History.  Soprano1 opens the book and sets it on the table before her, and Peck, Intrepid Owl Reporter, carefully uses his beak to turn the pages.

Chapter 10: Candles in the Tower

Candles are  a long-standing Ravenclaw tradition.  It seems as if the custom of lighting a candle for a Claw (or any House Cupper) in need must have started before time, but indeed, there is a fixed point in our history when a gesture of kindness became a cherished tradition.

November 2009, very nearly one year ago at this point of writing, was a Very Bad Month.  On November 1, I woke up with a fever, a splitting headache, and was down for the rest of the week with what was almost certainly a fair-to-middling case of the H1N1 flu, which we were still all calling "Swine Flu" at the time. It's a week that will live forever in my memory, because it was flanked by two fabulous days: Halloween, when I went with my husband, Tenor1, and our son D1 (dressed as Ron Weasley) to the Museum of Science to see the Harry Potter exhibit; and the following Saturday, when I dragged myself out of bed, being at last 24-hours fever-free, to go again to the Museum of Science, this time for my very first House Cup meetup with GazeboGal, Vertigo1414, and ScarlettB.  But the week in between was miserable, and I was not alone.

That week in the tower, one of our members came in to say that her son had contracted the flu.  Her younger son had died the year before almost to the day.  GazeboGal made the very first candle reference in response to her post:  "Candle is lit for him, my friend."

Then Ielith, and her dear little wyvern Ember, lit another candle.  

/Ember marches across(!) the common room to GazeboGal and whispers in her ear. Selene produces a lovely candle from somewhere and sets it up on a table. Ember lights the candle and settles down to keep vigil on it./

On the same day, another member came in to tell us that she had suffered a miscarriage, and the next day GazeboGal left us with the following description of the candle on her window:

There is a huge three-wick’d pillar candle in my windowsill and I’m about to light it for all of us. May the Great Spirit hold each of you in love, my dear siblings.

Meanwhile, Heathen, who has since left the House Cup, but who still, I notice, crafts in Ravenclaw colors, created the Ravenclaw Hospitality Program, which endeavored to send cards and trinkets to those feeling stressed or unhappy.  I received a card from her that term myself, and some beautiful green stitch markers I still treasure.  Heathen and GazeboGal together conceived of and announced, in this post, the very first Ravenclaw Candle Light Vigil, which maybe didn't deserve the Capital Letters, except that it did. 

Throughout the rest of that weekend, and for many weeks after, and now all the way up to a year, we have lit candles that connect us, like a constellation of bright stars, all across the Universe.

Peace, friends.