Immense interest in lighting virtual candles in connection with All Saints’ Day

Via the Church of Sweden’s prayer website you can still light virtual candles in light trees located in four cemeteries in Sweden.

During the weekend that included All Saints’ Day more than 24,000 virtual candles were lit via the Church of Sweden’s prayer website, in four cemeteries around Sweden, in one of the light trees linked to the prayer website via webcams. In total more than 42,000 digital candles were lit on the prayer website over the weekend.

“We are overwhelmed and moved that so many people chose to express their grief, longing and gratitude by lighting candles via the prayer website during the weekend. Prayer breaks through all boundaries, and everything that has now been shared in prayers and the lighting of candles illustrates the entirely unique aspects of each human being’s situation as well as the aspects we share. We meet in the depth of our humanity and spirituality,” says Gunnar Sjöberg, Head of Communications at the Central Church Office in Uppsala.

“The opportunity to also see your virtual candle be illuminated in a tree will be available for another couple of weeks, and after that you can write your prayers and light digital candles at any time on the prayer website as usual,” says Gunnar Sjöberg.

The prayer website received more than 100,000 visits during the weekend that included All Saints’ Day. On the Friday evening and the Saturday such a large number of people wanted to light candles that there weren’t enough lights available in the trees, and many people then chose to only light their candles digitally instead (see the figures below). Many people have also shared the fact that they have lit candles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #mittljus (meaning “my candle”).

Press contact: The Church of Sweden’s duty press service, tel. +46 (0)18 169475.

Facts
A total of 580 “candles” in the form of LED lights in bottles containing paraffin, have been installed in four light trees at cemeteries in Östersund, Karlstad, Stockholm and Helsingborg. The time during which the individual lights have stayed illuminated has varied from 3 hours to 30 minutes depending on the demand for lighting the virtual candles.
The Church of Sweden’s prayer website was launched in 2009 and today contains more than 124,000 personal prayers and lit candles. The prayer website is a place where visitors can anonymously express their spirituality, joy and grief, both wordlessly and in their own prayers. Visitors can also “place” their lit candles in a specific church.