| When colonial families settled on the Eastern | | | | "blooming", which is a white powdery residue that |
| seaboard, they set about on their "women's work". | | | | forms on the outside of the candle after several |
| Each day, the women of the house were responsible | | | | months. Candles had to be stored in a cool flat place |
| for the cooking, cleaning and care of the home. In | | | | to protect their fragile shape. |
| late fall, as the animals were slaughtered, women | | | | Over time, chandlers made their rounds, relieving |
| would begin making candles for the following year. | | | | women of the chore of candle making. Eventually, |
| The average home would require approximately 200 | | | | molds and paraffins were developed to replace tallow |
| - 400 candles to illuminate the home for a year. | | | | and chandlers altogether. |
| Tallow, or animal fat, was collected throughout the | | | | Bayberry has seen a resurgence in popularity over |
| year, but slaughter always brought more fat to the | | | | the last 100 years. Mabel Baker, founder of Colonial |
| home. As candle making was grueling and smelly | | | | Candle of Cape Cod (later PartyLite, a division of |
| work, the bulk of it was done in a single day. | | | | Blythe HomeScents, Inc.) made her mark in the early |
| Tallow can be quite foul after a few weeks. Imagine | | | | 20th century making hand dipped bayberry tapers. |
| how much worse it must be after several months! In | | | | Unfortunately, the company no longer offers candles |
| more affluent homes, the women would make | | | | made from genuine bayberry wax. |
| candles from beeswax or bayberry wax, as the | | | | Colonist folklore states that if you light a new |
| aroma was far sweeter than anything an animal | | | | bayberry candle on Christmas Eve, you'll have health, |
| would leave behind. | | | | wealth and prosperity in the coming year. The adage |
| Women would gather bushels of bayberries and boil | | | | reads: |
| them for several hours. This heating process allowed | | | | A bayberry candle burnt to the socket brings food |
| the waxy substance to seep from the berries. As | | | | to the larder and gold to the pocket. |
| the wax has a natural buoyancy, the wax floated to | | | | This holiday, look for taper candles made with |
| the top of the kettle. Once the wax cooled, it was | | | | genuine bayberry wax. The sweet, grassy aroma is a |
| skimmed off much the same way we skim chicken | | | | pleasant holiday fragrance. Burn one taper on |
| fat from cooled broth today. It takes approximately | | | | Christmas Eve, and ring in a new year of health, |
| 15 pounds of bayberries to render one pound of | | | | wealth and prosperity! |
| wax. Bayberry wax is brittle by nature, and prone to | | | | |