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In some communities, around the holidays there exists a tradition of lighting the driveways and walkways with luminaria.  From brown sacks, to milk jugs, to the more debonair, candlelight can be a breathtaking experience as you drive or walk along the streets and pathways.

For me, candles are a part of my everyday life.  They set me at ease after a hectic day, calm me, energize me, relax me.  Filling my home with enticing smells and light, I have become addicted to the charm of candles.

Candles transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.  Beginning with a solitary candle atop one’s first birthday cake, candles figure prominently in our lives.  We use them to make special occasions, decorate our homes, and to add a touch of romance to everyday life. 

Although candles remain important in our modern lives, it’s hard to imagine the vital role candlelight played in the daily lives of our ancestors.  The only glimpse we get is when our electricity goes out in a storm.  Although flashlights are an easier way to break the darkness, most of us still have a stash of candle stubs ready to light, just in case of a power outage.  One candle can make a world of difference on a dark and storym night.

Imagine what it was like when candles were one of the few sources of light.  Then, the day-to-day schedules that most people kept followed the move ment of the sun.  During the long, cold nights of winter, lighting a candle did more than light the night.  It made people more productive and allowed entertainment to continue way past sundown – candlelight challenged the forces of nature, if only for a little while.  It’s no accident, therefore, that our most beloved and traditional holidays, such as Christmas, Chanukah, and Halloween, revolve around candlelight.

Since Roman days, beeswax has been the most sought after candle-making ingredient.  This soft, sticky honey by-product burns clean and long and has a lovely aroma.  But beeswax has always come with a hefty price tag, so most people were forced to seek out alternatives, or simply did without.

From the Middle Ages onward, candles for the masses were made from tallow, rendered animal fat, which was melted and poured into metal molds.  When available, some whale fat or vegetable fat was added to improve the quality of the candle.  Tallow may have put candlelight within reach, but there was a catch.  Although an improvement on sitting in darkness, these candles gave off an unpleasant odor and left a greasy residue.

Candles made of vegetable waxes, such as bayberry, popular in colonial America, and carnauba wax, used in Brazil, were much preferred to tallow candles.  They had the advantage of natural color and scent, but were unfortuantely difficult to produce on a large scale.  So candles made from these waxes were saved for special occasions.

Then in the 1800s, it was discovered that adding stearin, a naturally occurring fatty acid, to tallow enhanced candle hardness, lengthened burn time, and reduced the problem of odor and residue.  Not long afterwards, paraffin wax was developed as a by-product of the evolving petroleum industry.  By combining man-made ingredients with natural waxes, such as beeswax and bayberry, candles at last became a pleasant and affordable source of light for eeryone. 

The prevalence of candles, however, hasn’t diminshed the sense of luxury and romance we feel whenever we light them.  In this age of neon lights and cities that never sleep, candlelight still signifies mystery and miracles.  Perhaps it is because of the technological age that we live in that candlelight has become more precious, harkening back to simpler, less fast-paced times.

Handmade candles are even more special.  Just like a hand-sewn quilt or home-baked bread, handmade candles exude the personality of their maker and the quality of their ingredients.  Making candles is also a great escape from today’s high-tech world.  Candle-making can be a solitary process, a quiet time with your thoughts and your creativity, or you can get together with friends and inspire each other to even greater heights of ingenuity.

Best of all, handmade candles aren’t difficult to make, some of the recipes I’ve discovered are superbly easy.  Others take a bit more skill and patience; but not much. 

I’ve included on this site a few basic instructions and recipes…enjoy the candles that you make, and scent them according to your own tastes!  How scentfully-delicious!