Irish Wake A wake Is a vigil with a corpse. TVe word Is derived from "waecan." Anglo-Saxon for a watching. It is still customary In many countries for friends and neighbors of the deceased to sit up nights with the corpse until It is buried. The custom probably originated in the ancient superstition that unless cartfnlly guarded corpse was In danger of being carried car-ried away by spirits from Hades. The Irish wake Is especially notorious. In some parts of Irelaud those remaining remain-ing up nights with a corpse spend the lime In drinking, dancing and telling jokes and stories. It Is a highly festive fes-tive occasion. Grace Greenwood In her "Stories of Travel" has this to say about the Irish wake: "A wake. sur It's an entertainment a man fl" after he Is dead, when his disconsolate disconso-late friends all assemble at his nous, to discuss his virtues and driaH W poteen." Pathfinder Masazina