Candles have been used for light
and to illuminate man's celebrations for more than 5,000 years,
yet little is known about their origin.
It is often written that the
first candles were developed by the Ancient Egyptians, who used
rushlights or torches made by soaking the pithy core of reeds in
melted animal fat. However, the rushlights had no wick like a
true candle.
Early Wicked Candles
The
Egyptians were using wicked candles in 3,000 B.C., but the
ancient Romans are generally credited with developing the wicked
candle before that time by dipping rolled papyrus repeatedly in
melted tallow or beeswax. The resulting candles were used to
light their homes, to aid travelers at night, and in religious
ceremonies.
Historians have found evidence that many other
early civilizations developed wicked candles using waxes made
from available plants and insects. Early Chinese candles are
said to have been molded in paper tubes, using rolled rice paper
for the wick, and wax from an indigenous insect that was
combined with seeds. In Japan, candles were made of wax
extracted from tree nuts, while in India, candle wax was made by
boiling the fruit of the cinnamon tree.
It is also known that candles played an important
role in early religious ceremonies. Hanukkah, the Jewish
Festival of Lights which centers on the lighting of candles,
dates back to 165 B.C. There are several Biblical references to
candles, and the Emperor Constantine is reported to have called
for the use of candles during an Easter service in the 4th
century.
Middle Ages
Most
early Western cultures relied primarily on candles rendered from
animal fat (tallow). A major improvement came in the Middle
Ages, when beeswax candles were introduced in Europe. Unlike
animal-based tallow, beeswax burned pure and cleanly, without
producing a smoky flame. It also emitted a pleasant sweet smell
rather than the foul, acrid odor of tallow. Beeswax candles were
widely used for church ceremonies, but because they were
expensive, few individuals other than the wealthy could afford
to burn them in the home.
Tallow candles were the common household candle
for Europeans, and by the 13th century, candlemaking had become
a guild craft in England and France. The candlemakers
(chandlers) went from house to house making candles from the
kitchen fats saved for that purpose, or made and sold their own
candles from small candle shops.
Colonial Times
Colonial women offered America's first
contribution to candle making, when they discovered that boiling
the grayish-green berries of bayberry bushes produced a
sweet-smelling wax that burned cleanly. However, extracting the
wax from the bayberries was extremely tedious. As a result, the
popularity of bayberry candles soon diminished.
The growth of the whaling industry in the late
18th century brought the first major change in candle making
since the Middle Ages, when spermaceti -- a wax obtained by
crystallizing sperm whale oil -- became available in quantity.
Like beeswax, the spermaceti wax did not elicit a repugnant odor
when burned, and produced a significantly brighter light. It
also was harder than either tallow or beeswax, so it wouldn't
soften or bend in the summer heat. Historians note that the
first "standard candles" were made from spermaceti wax.
19th Century Advances
Most of the major developments impacting
contemporary candle making occurred during the 19th century. In
the 1820s, French chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul discovered how
to extract stearic acid from animal fatty acids. This lead to
the development of stearin wax, which was hard, durable and
burned cleanly. Stearin candles remain popular in Europe today.
In 1834, inventor Joseph Morgan helped to further
the modern-day candle industry by developing a machine that
allowed for continuous production of molded candles by using a
cylinder with a movable piston to eject candles as they
solidified. With the introduction of mechanized production,
candles became an easily affordable commodity for the masses.
Paraffin wax was introduced in the 1850s, after
chemists learned how to efficiently separate the
naturally-occurring waxy substance from petroleum and refine it.
Odorless and bluish-white in color, paraffin was a boon to
candle making because it burned cleanly, consistently and was
more economical to produce than any other candle fuel. Its only
disadvantage was a low melting point. This was soon overcome by
adding the harder stearic acid, which had become widely
available. With the introduction of the light bulb in 1879,
candle making began to decline.
The 20th Century
Candles enjoyed renewed popularity during the
first half of the 20th century, when the growth of U.S. oil and
meatpacking
industries brought an increase in the byproducts that had become
the basic ingredients of candles – paraffin and stearic acid.
The popularity of candles remained steady until
the mid-1980s, when interest in candles as decorative items,
mood-setters and gifts began to increase notably. Candles were
suddenly available in a broad array of sizes, shapes and colors,
and consumer interest in scented candles began to escalate.
The 1990s witnessed an unprecedented surge in the
popularity of candles, and for the first time in more than a
century, new types of candle waxes were being developed. In the
U.S., agricultural chemists began to develop soybean wax, a
softer and slower burning wax than paraffin. On the other side
of the globe, efforts were underway to develop palm wax for use
in candles.
Today's Candles
Candles have come a long way since their initial
use. Although no longer man's major source of light, they
continue to grow in popularity and use. Today, candles symbolize
celebration, mark romance, soothe the senses, define ceremony,
and accent home decors — casting a warm and lovely glow for all
to enjoy.
