Watching the Easter sepulchre

Before the Reformation churches set up Easter sepulchres showing the burial of Christ, and crowds came to see them. It was widely believed that the second coming would fall on Easter Eve, so the sepulchres were watched all night until three in the morning. Then two of the oldest monks took out an image of the risen Christ, raised it during the anthem Christus resurgens and carried it round the outside of the church by torchlight under a velvet canopy, before setting it on the high altar until Ascension Day.