The History of Candles

We enjoy them so much today, but what are the history of candles?  Where did they originally come from, and where are they headed?  The answers may surprise you!

The Origins

Sadly, it's not known exactly when the history of candles started.  Some credit the Egyptians, with their rushlight (rush plants, dipped in grease or beeswax).  When you think of this kind of use, think of torches.

Others say that the Romans were the first to use candles, as they were the first to use a wick. The Romans created candles using the rush pith (dried center) as the wick, and dipped in tallow.

In any case, the use of rushlight goes back to around 3,000 B.C., while the Roman candle dates back from roughly the first century A.D.

Use of Beeswax

Early candles were made with tallow, which is a by-product of rendering beef fat (although some cultures used sheep).  Unfortunately, tallow creates a fair amount of soot, and doesn't smell very good.

In the Middle Ages, it was discovered that beeswax made a great candle fuel.  The only problem -- it was in short supply, so most people had to resort to tallow after all.  Beeswax burns cleaner, so it definitely had an advantage.  At any rate, only the wealthy (and the Church) could afford to burn beeswax candles.

The History of Candles in America

Colonial America still used tallow-dipped candles as their main source of lighting,  While beeswax was certainly available, it was still in short supply.

The Colonial women are credited with discovering bayberry wax, made from the bayberry plant.  The smell was sweet (possibly the beginnings of the history of scented candles) but the work was tedious.  So tedious in fact, that bayberry as a candle wax was eventually discarded.

Fast-forward to the 18th century and spermaceti was used as a new type of wax.  Spermaceti is made from crystallizing sperm whale oil, and it didn't give off a smell like tallow did.  And as a bonus, the spermaceti candles had a higher melting point, so didn't deform in the summer heat.

With the decline of whales and whaling, it was back to beeswax and tallow.  But something happened in 1834 that caused a revolution in the candle world.  Joseph Morgan invented a machine that allowed for the swift creation of molded candles.  Thus, the first mass-production candles were born.

In 1850 the history of candles took a turn; paraffin was born as a by-product of the petroleum-processing industry.  The benefits were that paraffin was cheap and burned relatively cleanly (compared to tallow at any rate).  The problem?  It had a very low melting point, unless steric acid was added as a hardener.  Today's paraffin candles routinely use steric acid.

Candles Since the 1900's

Alas, Edison's lightbulb signaled the decline of the candle industry, at least for lighting use.  However, as time passed, candles came in vogue again.  Today, scented candles are used in most homes in the U.S. at some point or other, and the industry is roughly 2 billion dollars, according to the National Candle Association.

Richly scented candles, whether used for aromatherapy, decorating or simply their fragrant use are popular, and their growth shows no hint of decline.

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Did You Know?

That a candle-maker is called a chandler.  And from that word comes chandelier (which was originally lit with candles).

There are three basic types of candle wax, derived from animals, vegetables and petroleum.  (Learn more on the candle making wax page.)

Candles and Celebrations

Candles mark periods of transitions in a young person's life.

Thriteen candles is for a bar mitzva. 

Fifteen candles is for the Latin American "Quinceanera", which celebrates a girl's 15th birthday. 

And of course here in the U.S., sixteen candles marks a girl's "sweet sixteen" birthday.

Vintage Images and Candles

Since we're talking about history here, there's a site you might want to check out. Called Vintage Image Craft, they specialize in (as you might expect) vintage images. Here's a neat page to look at for different kinds of crafts -- it's really neat! (Look for the candle creation on the page.)