Tenebrae is a Passiontide service now rarely observed in the Catholic Church. Tenebrae is the Latin for “darkness” and the ceremony involved the gradual extinguishing of 15 candles arranged on a triangular “hearse” over Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. It concludes with the strepitus, or “loud noise”, often the slamming shut of a book, in total darkness close to the end of the ritual, to represent the earthquake that followed the death of Christ. The final candle, hidden during the closing part of the service, is revealed.