Candlelight vigil remembering deceased children celebrates 15th anniversary Wednesday

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Dec. 6 is Children’s Day. It is also the day the annual candlelight vigil at the Christmas Box Angel Statue is held around the world.

At the vigil, people gather around a statue of an angel and remember and celebrate the lives of their children who have died. They place flowers around the statue, sing songs and talk about the kinds of lives their children would have had if they were given more time on Earth.

Wednesday's vigil is the 15th anniversary in Idaho Falls.

“We’re all in what I refer to as a club that nobody wants to be a part of,” said Linda Hale, who organizes the gathering and lost a child of her own. “We all get together to remember [the children], to support each other, to just be together as a community and draw strength from each other.”

The statue is based on a book by Richard Paul Evans called The Christmas Box. It’s about a mother who goes to the cemetery every year to mourn the child she lost at the base of an angel statue.

Hale says when Evans wrote the book, he was referring to the Salt Lake Cemetery, which didn’t have an angel statue at the time. After people kept asking him why there wasn’t such a statue there, Evans decided to have one built. It was dedicated in 1994.

Years later, there are more than 120 of these angel statues around the world—including Canada and Asia. Hundreds of people gather together at these statues for the same reason—to remember their beloved deceased children.

The vigil in Idaho Falls will be held on Dec. 6 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Fielding Memorial Cemetery.

For information on how to set up a Christmas Box Angel Statue in another town, visit richardpaulevans.com.