Nothing New under the Sun by M. J. Abadie

The annals of ancient Ireland record candles “as thick as a man's body and the length of a hero's spear.” These massive candles — probably made by the process of dipping peeled rushes into melted tallow thousands of times — were crude but effective means of lighting. They were customarily burned all night outside the tents of warrior kings on campaign.

There is evidence that early Chinese and Japanese people made candles with wax derived from insects (perhaps bees: we don't know for sure because in Europe beeswax was not discovered as useful for candle making until the Middle Ages) and the seeds of the tallow-tree. These vegetable waxes were molded in paper tubes — a method we can make use of today with the cardboard rolls around which toilet tissue and paper towels are wound! The old adage that “There's nothing new under the sun” may indeed be true!

Candles for timekeeping have been recorded from the ninth century. They had twelve divisions marked on them, and each candle burned for twenty-four hours. These candles were in use until only about fifty years ago to measure the duration of a work shift in coal mines.

 Most early candles were made of animal fat, but in India, where the use of animal fat was outlawed for religious reasons (the Hindus are primarily vegetarians), wax skimmed from boiling cinnamon was the basis of tapers made for use in Indian temples. Today, we scent candles with cinnamon for the pleasant odor without being aware of the history of this common (now — not then!) flavoring agent, which is actually the bark of a tree.

First Dipping Candles

Candles were also used in the great halls of medieval times — apparently in great number, for those halls were dark and dank and badly in need both of light and cheer. These candles were made by simply dipping a rush wick into fat and letting the fat cool. This dipping process could be repeated indefinitely and is the basis for the modern method of dipping candles.

Prior to the nineteenth century, there were three kinds of animal fat used in candle making — all called “tallow” — beef fat from cows, pork fat from pigs (very white), and mutton (or lamb) fat from sheep. Of these, mutton fat was thought superior: it burned longer, smoked little, and was not as smelly. Pork fat, though a nice white, produced a thick smoke and a foul stench. Luckily, today we have odor-free waxes and perfumes and scents to make candles smell nice. But back then, one had to put up with the unpleasant smell of animal fat burning. Lucky people had mutton fat; poor people settled for pig fat, the smelliest.

The Advent of Modern Candle making by M. J. Abadie

Candle making as we know it began in the thirteenth century when itinerant chandlers (as candle makers were called then), traveled from town to town and door to door. So in demand were their services that in Paris alone a tax list of l292 named seventy-one chandlers. The chandlers set up their candle making equipment and dipped tapers for their clients, who provided the material. In both Paris and England, wax chandlers and tallow chandlers formed guilds. The English Tallow Chandlers were incorporated in l462 and they regulated trade in candles made from animal fat, made for the common folk. Those who worked with wax were the upper crust of candle makers and made a lot more money because only the wealthy could afford wax. So prized were wax candles that the home that had them set them proudly in pewter or silver holders.

Although beeswax had probably been recognized for centuries as a material for making candles, it is extremely difficult to handle. Therefore, until the invention of candle molds and stearin (l820s), all beeswax candles had to be made by hand, which was a time-consuming and laborious process. Yet, only beeswax candles were used in churches and monastery chapels.

Because churches and monasteries of the period were great users of candles, monasteries had extensive candle making facilities on their properties. Candle making, like cooking and gardening, was one of the common works carried on in these institutions. One writer has speculated that monks' reputation for being always cheerful came not from spiritual development but from the drinking of mead, a byproduct of the honey left over from the making of beeswax candles. No doubt the danger of getting stung by a bee had its compensations.

So valued was beeswax, and so expensive, that Catholics in the Middle Ages were permitted to use beeswax to pay their tithes to the Church! And since the Church's candles had to be made of beeswax, by papal decree, this was an important source of the precious substance for Church use.

Canon law of the Roman Catholic Church declared that the church's beeswax candles must contain not less than 5l percent beeswax. The balance can be a vegetable or mineral wax, but never tallow. Candles for specific rites must contain either l00 percent or two-thirds beeswax. For this reason, the Catholic Church has been the largest consumer of candles made of beeswax the most expensive of all waxes and the most difficult to manipulate, especially in olden times throughout the world.