The paschal candle is a large candle lit from new fire at the Easter Vigil, and it is the central visual sign of the resurrection in the Western liturgy.
Light out of darkness
At the Easter Vigil, in a dark church, new fire is struck and the paschal candle lit from it and carried in, the light spreading from it to the candles of the whole congregation as the deacon proclaims the coming of the light of Christ. The candle is marked with a cross, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and the numerals of the year, with five grains of incense set into the cross for the wounds of Christ, so that the object itself states that Christ is the beginning and the end and the Lord of all time. The great hymn of praise, the Exsultet, is sung before it.
Through the fifty days and beyond
The candle burns at the principal services through the fifty days of Eastertide, standing in the sanctuary as the sign of the risen Christ present with his church. After that it is kept by the font and lit at baptisms, where the candle of the newly baptised is kindled from it, linking each new Christian to the resurrection, and it is lit again at funerals and set by the coffin, so that the same flame that opened Easter accompanies a Christian into and out of the church. One candle thus threads together Easter, baptism and death.