What Everybody Ought to Know about the History of Candle Making
The history of candle making is a fascinating story. After all, its main characters are light, heat, and fire. Light is a universal element of every story ever told; heat makes any story more intriguing, and fire adds excitement: a risk of disaster underlying simple, powerful beauty.
Who Invented the Candle?
The history of making candles shows that many different countries developed candle making technology independently as a tool for survival, so no single inventor can take credit for inventing the candle.
Early Origins of Candles
The known history of candle making begins around 3,000 years before the birth of Christ, when ancient Egyptians and Cretans made candles from beeswax, a substance secreted by bees as they make the honeycombs where they store honey. Beeswax candles are still popular today, and they are one of the easiest candles for home candle makers and craft enthusiasts to create.
Around the first century, ancient Romans made candle using animal fat known as tallow as fuel and the center of the bulrush - a reed found in wetlands -- as wicks. Animal fat continued to be used for candle making well into the 18th century, with the spermaceti, derived from the blubber of the sperm whale, producing the finest candles known to that point in the history of candle making.
Eventually vegetable oils like colza oil, made from turnips, and rapeseed oil, sometimes called canola oil, replaced spermaceti in the art of candle making because these vegetable oils were cheaper than spermaceti and could be made locally wherever these plants were found.
Along Comes Paraffin
The creation of paraffin in 1830 changed the history of candle making forever. Paraffin is a group of alkane-based chemicals; it was an inexpensive substance extracted from minerals that produced a high-quality, odorless, clean-burning candle. Paraffin has other uses, as electrical insulation, in waxed paper, and for coating cheeses, but its most influential role among these is its starring role in the history of candle making.
Unfortunately for chandlers, the candle was nearly made obsolete by the discovery of kerosene, which made an excellent fuel for lamps. As affordable kerosene lamps took over the indoor lighting market, candles were relegated to the role of decorative items, burned only on special occasions.
New candle fuels used today, like resin and soy oil, will eventually take their place in the history of candle making. The trendy popularity of aromatherapy and the enduring fantasy of a romantic candlelight dinner make candles an important part today's culture.
