Candles
Candles are used for decoration at Christmas time.
They give a warm glow to the Christmas dinner table and come in all shapes and sizes.
Hark! The herald angels sing
Meaning
The word ‘candle’ comes from the Latin ‘candere’, meaning ‘to shine’. Candles were used before electricity to bring light into the darkness, so at Christmas time they remind us of the light that came into the world when Jesus was born.
In Victorian days candles were placed on Christmas trees and were seen as a symbol of the star of Bethlehem, which guided the wise men to the baby Jesus.
The Advent wreath is four candles in an evergreen wreath. One candle is lit each week during Advent.
Did you know?
Candles have been used as lights for hundreds of years, going back to the Egyptians nearly 2500 years ago. It is thought that the Romans were the first to use a candle with a wick.
In the Middle Ages people made candles from beeswax (produced by bees to make their honeycombs). In 1850 paraffin wax was used – this was made from oil and coal shales.
In 1834 Joseph Morgan invented a machine for making candles – it could produce 1500 per hour from a mould.
In Jesus’ day, oil lamps were used to light homes and to guide travellers in the dark.
Often Jesus taught people using stories called ‘parables’. A parable is a story told to illustrate a moral or religious point. In some of these parables he told stories involving lamps. Light symbolizes goodness and purity – the opposite of darkness, which symbolizes evil and sin.
The Bible says
Luke 11:32-34
No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.
Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body is also full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness.
John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 12:46
Jesus said:
“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness “
1 John 1:5-7
God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.