| Candles have come a long way since their earliest | | | | Americans made their first candles by using oily fish |
| known times from around the fourth century B.C. At | | | | on a forked stick. Early missionaries would get their |
| one time, candles were one of the only sources of | | | | wax by boiling the bark of the Cerio tree. Early |
| artificial light. The early Egyptians used rushes soaked | | | | settlers of colonial America discovered that they |
| in tallow (animal fat) and called them rushlights. During | | | | could boil the berries from the bayberry shrub and |
| the time of the Roman Empire tallow was melted | | | | create a wonderful smelling, good burning candle. |
| until it was liquid then poured over fibers of hemp or | | | | Unfortunately, the process to make this wax was |
| flax. The Chinese and Japanese made candles by | | | | extremely tiresome and tedious. During the 19th |
| using wax derived from insects and seeds and | | | | century the first patented candle making machines |
| molded them in paper tubes. In India, taper candles | | | | were created. This allowed all homes, no matter |
| were made from skimming wax off of boiling | | | | what class, to have them. |
| cinnamon. Beeswax candles came along in the Middle | | | | No longer do we use candles as a primary source of |
| Ages, but quantities were limited, making it too | | | | light, but they`re still a very important part of our |
| expensive for anyone but the upper class. | | | | lives. We use them for many of our ceremonies, as |
| Candle making, as we know it, made it`s debut during | | | | decorations for our homes, to scent our homes, and |
| the thirteenth century when chandlers (candle | | | | to create warm glows in our homes during special, or |
| makers) traveled door to door creating candles with | | | | romantic, occasions. What would romance be without |
| the customer`s tallow or beeswax. In America, Native | | | | candle light? |