The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1878-07-16
CONCERNING CANDLES.
The Customs and SuperstiiiOns Con.
nected with Them-The Antiquity OF
the Invention.

Whoever invented candles must b.
considered benefactor to his fellow
men. To honor him by name is an i'm
possibility, for that appears to have beer
lost in the mists of antiquity. Of thu
benefits his invention has conferred
upon mankind there can be no question
and of the antiquity of the invention
there can be as little doubt. We fine
mention of the candle in the Bible al
early as the time of Job, though it may
be question whether the world trans
lated candle" in that book would moi
be better expressed by lamp" The
candle is also referred to in Proverbs, in
&<.4@4.s ~ .Ss !arem :. ,.aAa>ii
book of Revelation. Mention is otter
made of it by our Lord as recorded in
the gospels. Indeed, this by no means
exhausts the list of places in the Bible
in which the candle is referred to.
In keeping with these frequent refer
ences in the Scriptures to candles is the
prominent position they still hold in the
religious ceremonies of large section OF
mankind. The Roman, Greek, and now
the English churches are, among Chris.
tians, the three great religious bodies
distinctive for their use of candles as
adjuncts, to public worship. But among
others and non-Christian systems OF
religion, that Of Buddha is conspicuous
for the same usage; and although we
can not say whether it's symbolism is as
defined as in the Christian church, still,
as with those of us who follow the usage,
it is not omitted at any important relig-
ious ceremony or service.
Among western nations candles have
always been regarded as necessary acces-
series to public worship. "Christmas,"
says Blount, "was called the Feast of
Lights in the Western or Latin church,
because they used many lights or candles
ct the feast" What was then customary
is not less SO in these modern times. At
st. Johns college, Oxford, a candle
used formerly to be burned at Christmas
in an ancient stone socket upon which
was engraved figure of the Holy
Lamb. 1t was in use during the twelve
days of Christmas, and stood on the
public supper board. In Belgium, from
Christmas to Epiphany, the children
carry about the streets paper stars
having lighted taper in the center,
singing at the same time some verses OF
a carol. " Some years ago." says a
writer in Notes and Qufries, the GOLFERS
at Llynymaen, two miles from Oswestry,
were in the habit of carrying from house
to house in Oswestry, boards covered
with clay, in which were stuck lighted
candles. This was done at Christmas
only, and by GOLFERS only" .
The customs and superstitions con-
nected with candles are extremely num-
erous. A letter in the Times of 25th
March, 1873, relates to sales "by inch of
candle:" When the bidding is open
ed, a small candle-similar to vesta-
is lighted; at each bid new one is
lighted, and if no new bid is given before
it goes out, a second, and on that going
out without a bid, a third candle is
lighted. The last bidder at the time
the third candle goes out is declared the
purchaser" In Pepys' Diary, under
the date 9th November, 1860, we read:
" To our office where we met all for the
sale Of two ships by an inch of candle
the first that l ever saw any of this
kind-where / observed how they do in
vite one another, and at last how they
all do cry, and we have much to do to
tell who did cry last" The word "cry"
used here is evidently tie same as our
modern word bid" The custom, like
many another, has not wholly died out
in England, as the following from a
Bristol paper of the March Goth, 1878,
proves: "The practice of letting by
inch of candle still prevails in the county
of Dorset. At the annual letting of the
parish meadow of Broadway, near Wey-
mouth, which occurred few weeks ago,
an inch of candle was placed on piece
of wood nine inches square, and lig hted
by one Of the parish officers. The bid
dings were taken down by one of the
parish officers, and the chance of taking
the meadow was open to all while the
candle was burning. The last bidder
before the candle went out was the in
coming tenant. This year the candle
was extinguished suddenly"
Among the customs used at death is
that sometimes practiced of putting a
plate of salt and a candle upon the
corpse, and Mcresin conjectures that the
latter "was an Egyptian hieroglyphic
for life, meant to express here the ardent
desire of having the life of the deceased
prolonged" Among modern Jews it is
customary, according to Levi, to set a
light at the head of a dead person after
the corpse has been laid out; and among
Roman and Anglo Catholics the same
custom, it is almost superfuous to add,
is practiced. In the time of Henry
VIII, says Hazlitt, quoting from Scogin's
Jests, it was the custom to set two
burning candles over the dead body.
Candle omens are numerous and vari.
GUS. Some are almost two well known
to need mention, while knowledge of
others is not so general. GA collection
of tallow," says Grose, rising up
agaa;;nss.. the wick Of candle is styled the
window-sheet, and deemed an omen of
death in the family" The same writer
tells us that spark at the candle de-
notes that the persons opposite to it will
shortly receive a letter. To find to
whom the letter is to come, according to
another popular superstition, the candle
stick should be struck on the table, and
whoever the spark falls opposite will
receive the letter. it falls after one
knock, it comes the next day; if after
two, the second day, and so on. A kind
of fungus in the candle predicts the visit
of stranger from that part of the
country nearest the object. Upon this
that pedantic writer Sir Thomas Brown
observes: "The fungus parcels about
the wicks of candles only indicate a
moist and pluvious air, which binders
the avolation of the light and favilious
particles, whereupon they settle upon
the snast. That candles and lights burn