Vigilia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A period of wakefulness kept in honor of a religious event or in preparation for a significant occasion
2. A state of alertness maintained during a time of prayer or reflection, often before a major feast
3. A time spent vigilantly, often associated with observance, where individuals refrain from sleep for spiritual or ceremonial purposes

Etymology: "Vigilia" is the Latin word for a watch or a period of staying awake, and it comes from "vigil," meaning awake or watchful, a sense that connects to the Latin "vigere," to be lively or flourish. The Romans divided the night into watches, and a "vigilia" was one of those night-time shifts, so a soldier on guard duty was keeping a vigilia in the most literal sense. The religious sense grew out of that military and nightly usage. Early Christians held all-night prayer services on the eves of major feasts, and the Latin Church applied "vigilia" to the day before a feast, a sense that survives in English "vigil" and in the liturgical term "vigil" for the evening before a feast day. Over time the word moved from the watchman's shift to the solemn night of waiting before a holy day.

Synonyms: wakefulness, alertness, watchfulness, vigil, wake

Antonyms: sleep, slumber, unconsciousness, nap, rest