Editing Candle (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of candle making}}
[[File:Bronze candelabrum MET DP250501.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] [[candelabrum]] {{circa|550 BC}}]]
Prior to the invention of candles, ancient people used open fire, torches, splinters of resinous wood, and lamps to provide artificial illumination at night.{{sfn|Forbes|1966|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N6Y3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA127 127] }} Primitive [[oil lamp]]s in which a lit wick rested in a pool of oil or fat were used from the [[Paleolithic]] period, and pottery and stone lamps from the [[Neolithic]] period have been found.{{sfn|Forbes|1966|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-VmmHdm5STIC&pg=PA126 126] }}  Because candle making requires a reliable supply of animal or vegetable fats, it is certain that candles could not have developed before the early [[Bronze Age]];{{sfn|Forbes|1966|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-VmmHdm5STIC&pg=PA134 134]}} however, it is unclear when and where candles were first used. Objects that could be candlesticks have been found in [[Babylonia|Babylonian]] and middle [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] cultures, as well in the [[tomb of Tutankhamun]].{{sfn|Baur|1996|page=7}} The "candles" used in these early periods would not have resembled the current forms; more likely they were made of plant materials dipped in animal fat.<ref name=hellenic>{{cite web |url=https://www.hellenic.org.au/post/let-there-be-light |title=Let There be Light: A History of Candles |work=Hellenic Museum |date=3 December 2021 }}</ref>

Early evidence of candle use may be found in Italy, where a depiction of a candlestick exists in an [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] tomb at [[Orvieto]],{{sfn|Forbes|1966|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N6Y3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA140 140] }} and the earliest excavated Etruscan candlestick dates from the 7th century BC.{{sfn|Baur|1996|page=18}} Candles may have evolved from [[wikt:taper#English:_candle|taper]] with wick of [[oakum]] and other plant fibre soaked in fat, pitch or oil and burned in lamps or pots.{{sfn|Forbes|1966|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-VmmHdm5STIC&pg=PA134 134] }} Candles of antiquity were made from various forms of natural fat, tallow, and wax, and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] made true dipped candles from [[tallow]] and beeswax.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smith.edu/hsc/museum/ancient_inventions/candles2.html |title=Candles, Roman, 500 BCE |website=Smith College Museum}}</ref> Beeswax candles were expensive and their use was limited to the wealthy, so oil lamps were the more commonly used lighting devices in Roman times. [[Ancient Greece]] used torches and oil lamps, and likely adopted candle use in a later period from Rome.{{sfn|Forbes|1966|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N6Y3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA140 140] }} Early record in China suggests that candles were used in the [[Qin dynasty]] before 200&nbsp;BC. These early Chinese candles may have been made from whale fat.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 December 2020 |title=The Best Candle Pouring Pots for Learning an Ancient Craft|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/product-recommendations/best-candle-pouring-pots-1234577128/ |access-date=2023-02-02 |website=Art News}}</ref>

[[File:Феофил III.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Candles used in the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] in [[Jerusalem]]]]

In Christianity, candles gained significance in their decorative, symbolic and [[Ceremonial use of lights#Christianity|ceremonial uses]] in churches. Wax candles, or ''candela cerea'' recorded at the end of the 3rd century, were documented as [[Easter candle]]s in Spain and Italy in the fourth century,{{sfn|Baur|1996|page=7}} the Christian festival [[Candlemas]] was named after it, and [[Pope Sergius I]] instituted the procession of lighted candles. [[Papal bull]]s decreed that tallow be excluded for use in altar candles, and a high beeswax content is necessary for candles of the high altar.{{sfn|Forbes|1966|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N6Y3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA141 141] }}

In medieval Europe, candles were initially used primarily in Christian churches. Their use spread later to the households of the wealthy as a luxury item.{{sfn|Baur|1996|page=8&ndash;9}}  In Northern Europe, especially England, [[rushlight]] made of greased rushes were commonly used, but [[tallow]] candles were used during the Middle Ages, with a mention of tallow candles in English appearing in 1154.{{sfn|Baur|1996|pages=7&ndash;8}} [[Beeswax]] was widely used in church ceremonies. Compared to animal-based tallow, it burns cleanly without smoky flame, and does not release an unpleasant smell like tallow. Beeswax candles were expensive, and relatively few people could afford to burn them in their homes in medieval Europe.<ref>{{cite web|title=history of candle|url=http://candles.org/history/|work=national candle association}}</ref>

[[File:Osterkerze Ostervigil 2023.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Paschal candle]] being carried]]
The candles were produced using a number of methods: dipping the wick in molten fat or wax, rolling the candle by hand around a wick, or pouring fat or wax onto a wick to build up the candle. In the 14th century Sieur de Brez introduced the technique of using a mould, but real improvement for the efficient production of candles with mould was only achieved in the 19th century.{{sfn|Forbes|1966|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N6Y3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA139 138–139] }} Wax and tallow candles were made in monasteries in the medieval period, and in rural households, tallow candles were made at home.{{sfn|Baur|1996|page=8}}  By the 13th century, candle making had become a guild craft in England and France, with a French guild documented as early as 1061.{{sfn|Baur|1996|page=8}} The candle makers (chandlers) went from house to house making candles from the kitchen fats saved for that purpose, or made and sold their own candles from small candle shops.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.candles.org/about_history.html |title=History of candles |publisher=National Candle Association |access-date=2012-05-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120517112023/http://www.candles.org/about_history.html |archive-date=May 17, 2012 }}</ref>

By the 16th century, beeswax candles were appearing as luxury household items among the wealthy.{{sfn|Baur|1996|page=9}} Candles were widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries, and a party in [[Dresden]] was said to have been lit by 14,000 candles in 1779.{{sfn|Baur|1996|page=9}}

In the Middle East, during the [[Abbasid]] and [[Fatimid]] Caliphates, beeswax was the dominant material used for candle making.{{sfn|Beg|1997|page=288}} Beeswax was often imported from long distances; for example, candle makers from Egypt used beeswax from [[Tunis]].{{sfn|Beg|1997|page=288}} As in Europe, these candles were expensive and limited to the elite, and most commoners used oil lamps instead.{{sfn|Beg|1997|page=288}} According to legend, the practice of using lamps and candles in mosque started with [[Tamim al-Dari]] who lit a lamp he brought from Syria in the [[Prophet's Mosque]] in Medina. The [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] caliph [[Al-Walid II]] was known to have used candles in the court in Damascus, while the Abbasid caliph [[al-Mutawakkil]] was said to have spent 1.2&nbsp;million silver [[dirham]]s annually on candles for his royal palaces.{{sfn|Beg|1997|page=288}}

In early modern Syria, candles were in high demand by all socioeconomic classes because they were customarily lit during marriage ceremonies.{{sfn|Beg|1997|page=288}} There were candle makers' guilds in the [[Safavid]] capital of [[Isfahan]] during the 1500s and 1600s.{{sfn|Beg|1997|page=288}} However, candle makers had a relatively low social position in Safavid Iran, comparable to [[barber]]s, [[hammam|bathhouse]] workers, fortune tellers, bricklayers, and [[porter (carrier)|porter]]s.{{sfn|Beg|1997|page=288}}

In the 18th and 19th centuries, [[spermaceti]], a waxy substance produced by the [[sperm whale]], was used to produce a superior candle that burned longer, brighter and gave off no offensive smell.<ref>{{cite book | last = Shillito | first = M. Larry   |author2=David J. De Marle | title = Value: Its Measurement, Design, and Management | publisher = Wiley-IEEE | year = 1992 | page = 33 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=e01LfamiCpUC&q=Spermaceti+candle+18th+century&pg=PA33 | isbn = 978-0-471-52738-1}}</ref> Later in the 18th century, [[colza oil]] and [[rapeseed]] oil came into use as much cheaper substitutes.

===Modern era===
[[File:Price's Palmitine Candles00.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Price's Candles]] had become the largest candle manufacturer in the world by the end of the 19th century]]

A number of improvements were made to candle in the 19th century. In older candles, the wick of a burning candle was not in direct contact with air, so it charred instead of being burnt. The charred wick inhibited further burning and produced black smoke, so the wick needed to be constantly trimmed or "snuffed".{{sfn|LeFever|2007|page=65}} In 1825, a French man M. Cambacérès introduced the plaited wick soaked with mineral salts, which when burnt, curled towards the outer edge of the flame and become incinerated by it, thereby trimming itself.{{sfn|Forbes|1966|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-VmmHdm5STIC&pg=PA134 134] }} These are referred to as "self-trimming" or "self-consuming" wicks.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.expressivecandles.com/history.php |title=A Brief History of Candles |access-date=2015-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318072713/http://www.expressivecandles.com/history.php |archive-date=2013-03-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1823, [[Michel Eugène Chevreul]] and [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac]] separate out [[stearin]] in animal fats, and obtained a patent in 1825 to produce candles that are harder and can burn brighter.{{sfn|Forbes|1966|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N6Y3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA139 138–139] }}{{sfn|LeFever|2007|page=65}}

The manufacture of candles became an industrialized mass market in the mid 19th century. In 1834, Joseph Morgan,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Joseph_Morgan_and_Son|title=Joseph Morgan and Son |work=Graces Guide}}</ref> a [[pewter]]er from [[Manchester]], England, patented a machine that revolutionised candle making. It allowed for continuous production of molded candles by using a cylinder with a moveable piston to eject candles as they solidified. This more efficient mechanized production produced about 1,500&nbsp;candles per hour. This allowed candles to be an affordable commodity for the masses.<ref>{{cite book | last = Phillips | first = Gordon  | title = Seven Centuries of Light: The Tallow Chandlers Company | publisher = Book Production Consultants  | year = 1999 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OWt03_on0qUC&q=Joseph+Morgan+candles+1834&pg=PA74 | isbn = 978-1-85757-064-9 | page = 74}}</ref>

In the mid-1850s, [[James Young (Scottish chemist)|James Young]] succeeded in distilling [[paraffin wax]] from coal and oil shales at [[Bathgate]] in [[West Lothian]] and developed a commercially viable method of production.<ref>{{cite book | last = Golan | first = Tal  | title = Laws of Men and Laws of Nature: The History of Scientific Expert Testimony in England and America | publisher = Harvard University Press | year = 2004 | pages = 89–91 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kQhYsAmcj-EC&q=james+young+patent+paraffin&pg=PA90  | isbn = 978-0674012868}}</ref> Paraffin could be used to make inexpensive candles of high quality. It was a bluish-white wax, which burned cleanly and left no unpleasant odor, unlike [[tallow]] candles. By the end of the 19th century, candles were made from paraffin wax and [[stearic acid]].

By the late 19th century, [[Price's Candles]], based in London, was the largest candle manufacturer in the world.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fJo7AwAAQBAJ|title=London's Industrial Heritage|author=Geoff Marshall|year=2013|publisher=The History Press|isbn=9780752492391}}</ref> Founded by William Wilson in 1830,<ref>{{cite book | last = Ball  | first = Michael  |author2=David Sunderland | title = An Economic History of London, 1800-1914 | publisher = Routledge | year = 2001 | pages = 131–132 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MI6JfTiEcdAC&q=Prices+Candles+Coconut&pg=PA132 | isbn = 978-0415246910}}</ref> the company pioneered the implementation of the technique of [[steam distillation]], and was thus able to manufacture candles from a wide range of raw materials, including skin fat, bone fat, fish oil and industrial greases.

Despite advances in candle making, the candle industry declined rapidly upon the introduction of superior methods of lighting, including [[kerosene]] and [[Kerosene lamp|lamps]] and the 1879 invention of the [[incandescent light bulb]]. From this point on, candles came to be marketed as more of a decorative item.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sekimoto|first1=Hiroshi|last2=Ryu|first2=Kouichi|last3=Yoshimura|first3=Yoshikane|date=2001-11-01|title=CANDLE: The New Burnup Strategy|url=https://doi.org/10.13182/NSE01-01|journal=Nuclear Science and Engineering|volume=139|issue=3|pages=306–317|doi=10.13182/NSE01-01|bibcode=2001NSE...139..306S |s2cid=121714669|issn=0029-5639}}</ref>