All Hallows
The Order of the Night
In a missal the words you say are printed in black, and what you do is printed in red. The red is called the rubric. Nothing is said tonight, so all of this is in red. The only black on the page is their names.
- XIII
Before dark, clear the table and lay a dark cloth on it. Put the tree in the middle.
- XII
Lay a place for each of them and one for each of you. Lay everything the wrong way round: the fork on the right, the knife on the left with its blade turned out.
- XI
Say to yourself who is coming, once, without moving your lips.
- X
Pull each of their chairs out from the table a little way, the way you would for someone.
- IX
Put the turnip on the step, facing the road, and light it. Set the tin beside it with the lid open. Whoever comes tonight takes one. Do not go to the door.
- VIII
Take the door off the latch. Open one window by a hand’s width, and put a candle in it.
- VII
At sunset, light their candles. From now until it is light, nobody says anything to anybody. Turn off your phone.
- VI
Come to the table walking backwards, and sit.
- V
Serve them first. Then serve the meal from its end: the sweet first, the soup last. Give them as much as they liked. Pour theirs.
- IV
Eat. If you hear the tree, do not look up.
- III
When you have finished, write down what you would have said. Do not sign it. Put it under their plate.
- II
Leave everything where it is and go to bed. Clear nothing. Blow out nothing. The candles go out by themselves.
- I
In the morning their food goes outside on the ground, and their drink. Burn the paper. Wash their plate last, by hand, and put it away until next year. Now you may talk. Nobody ever has to talk about this.
Here ends the order. Keep it with the plates.