The History of Candles
Candles, who hasn’t burnt a candle in their life? I remember when I was a child and we have the well known ‘apagones’. That was the time to play so many games, and within these variety of games there was the one with the candles. My sister and I used to play moving our annular finger through the flame very fast, health and safety didn’t seem to be an issue at that time. We also try to find shapes of the melted wax and relate them to different objects. I remember clearly how fascinated I was about candles, sometimes I would simply watch them burning. Burning candles were mesmerising in my little world and they still are today.
Since I started making candles I have been trying to find out where they originated, but it has become quite a complex task, as some say Greece, others Romans while other groups say China or Egypt.
So, let’s see…
Evidence of candle making and its development is evident throughout many places in history.
From the early Greeks who used candles to honor the birth of the goddess Artemis, to the Romans with their papyrus wicks, to India where a wax was created by boiling cinnamon, it is impossible to say just who has the right to say they invented the first candle.
Many consider the first candles to have been created by the Ancient Egyptians through the use of rushlights or even torches.
However, these early versions of the candle were made by soaking the core of reeds in melted animal fat and thus, lacked a traditional wick.
Beginning about 500 BC, the Ancient Romans began to develop candles of their own - complete with the now customary wick.
Their candles were created by dipping rolled papyrus in melted tallow or beeswax numerous times. These candles were used throughout their daily lives, from lighting their homes to religious ceremonies and events.
In China, their early candles were reportedly moulded in paper tubes using rolled rice paper for the wick, and wax from an indigenous insect that was combined with seeds. In Japan, their candles were made of wax that was extracted from trees.
In America, their first contribution to candle making was discovering that boiling the berries of bayberry bushes created a sweet-scented wax that burned cleanly. The problem was that extracting the wax from these berries was a lot of work. Due to this, bayberry candles soon diminished.
One of the first improvements came with the introduction of beeswax candles to Europe.
By the 13th century, guilds of candle makers, also known as Chandlers, had sprung up throughout England and France.
These guilds were divided by type - the wax candle makers and the tallow candle makers.
The next major improvement came in the late 18th century as a byproduct of the whaling industry's growth.
Sometime between the first catch of sperm whales in 1720 and 1743 came the discovery of using spermaceti - a wax obtained by crystallizing sperm whale oil - in candle making.
Though originally brown in color,'spermaceti wax' was bleached before being sold, making it appear white and translucent. Much like beeswax, spermaceti wax did not produce a foul odor when burned and provided a brighter light than other candles available on the market at the time.
As such, it was from spermaceti wax that the first 'standard candles' were created.
It was in the 19th century that many of the major developments that lead to the creation of candles as we know them today took place. Following the work of French Chemists, Michele Chevreul and Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac came the development of stearin wax. Candles made of this wax are still quite popular in Europe.
Shortly before the decline of candle making came the introduction of paraffin wax in the 1850s.
This wax was used to create inexpensive candles that were high quality, something that had been mostly unheard of in candle creation before this time.
The bluish-white wax burned cleanly and offered no unpleasant odour, though it did have one major drawback.
Early coal and petroleum-derived paraffin waxes had a very low melting point that was soon solved with the introduction of stearin.
Later, Thomas Edison introduced light bulbs to the world through the distillation of kerosene. This led to the decline of candle industries despite its advances. It became less useful as a source of light and more of a decorative item at home.
In the 1990s, the popularity of candles surged once again when new types of candle waxes were under development. Agricultural chemists in the U.S. discovered soybean wax, which is a softer and slower burning wax than paraffin. In other countries, palm wax was in the works for candle use as well.
It is clear that candles have been in our lives for a long time and how they have evolved is quite interesting. We can find at least one candle in every house nowadays. Lighting a candle for me is truly a ritual.
Happy Reading 💚
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