Early Lighting

By Michael Pillagalli

During the holiday season we pass by many homes, either old or new, and the

proverbial single electric candle illuminates the window.

Do we know the colonial

meaning of this practice? Do we even really know the background of the candle and its

purpose for our forebearers?

Let’s start with the basic fact that much to our amazement, the average household, be it

Chester County or anywhere in the 18 th Century, had maybe two whole candles to burn

per week. What you say, “Is that all?” Here is some background into this odd fact.

Let’s start with the candle itself which was hand made and a time consuming project.

The most time consuming task involved tying a cut piece of wick onto a dowel or stick

and dipping it into a vat of molten wax. This took a deep pot and a lot of time and wax

to make a candle of some length. Or, one could have used a candle mold which was

made of tin and came in various sizes. This was a similar procedure as a wick was

secured to a stick or dowel and positioned over the hole in the candle mold. One had to

initially dip the wicked rod into the molten wax to make the string wick straight and

center it over each hole in the mold.

One had to pour each hole a layer at a time to make sure that the wick stayed centered in the mold to make an effective candle. Your

income level would determine if your mold would form two, four, six, or eight to twelve

candles. I have seen candle molds that looked like the size of an end table that would

go from eighteen to twenty four candles at a time. I believe the larger sized ones would

have been for larger multi building habitats and had extra hands available to aid in this

laborious task. Candles were made a few times per year as they were a long and

lengthy ordeal as one can imagine. First was the gathering of materials to make the

candle. Then imagine a hot summer day standing over a fire to keep the wax melted

and dipping candles for hours. Candles were made from four basic ingredients: whale

spermaceti, bayberries, animal fats, or beeswax.

Whale Spermaceti was not very available in Chester County needless to say, but the

wax came from the head cavity of a sperm whale and was a white semi-solid wax which

had to be heated and strained for impurities to make it pourable into a mold or hand

dipped. When either hand dipped or mold produced, they provided four times the light

of another candle wax and lasted twice as long as the other hand made candles. It had

virtually no smell to it and produced a very soft light. Today, due to ethical reasons, it is

very difficult to procure the oil and thus the true spermaceti candle is not very often

seen.

Bayberry candles are made from wax coated bayberries. In the Northeast the prevalent

plant is the Myrica pensylvanica. It was quite abundant in that area and in our area the

Myrica cerifera would have been found, which did grow in the same abundance as in

the north part of the colonies. It took about fifteen pounds of handpicked bayberries to

produce one pound of usable wax. And, the berries were only available at the end of

their growing season. The berries had to be heated to melt off the wax, strained

through cheesecloth to rid the berry itself and debris collected while being handpicked.

Next the strained molten wax was let to cool to separate the wax from the juice of the

berry and water. After cooling the wax was reheated and restrained and when cooled

the wax was on the top and could be easily taken for use in candle making. Next, the

process began of either hand dipping or pouring the molten wax into molds. Due to the

time to gather, melt and form candles, bayberry candles were pretty much kept for a

special occasion or used as a holiday treat as they did offer a lovely woodsy aroma

while being burned but were quick to burn as a six or seven inch candle only stayed lit

for four or five hours at the most. Legend has it that one had to burn to candle to the

end for good luck and prosperity. Today this process with our conveniences could

easily take up to nine or ten hours, so imagine doing it in the 18 th Century with a fire

roaring in the walk-in fireplace on a hot day in summer.

Tallow or animal fat candles would have gone through much the same process as the

bayberry ones. The tallow or animal fat would have been collected during a slaughter

period and kept until enough of the animal fat was available for melting. Any and all

animal fats were mixed and used for candlemaking. It would take about two pounds of

animal fat to make a dozen long candles. The fat was melted and strained like the

bayberry potion and cooled some and reheated and strained a second time to further

remove any impurities. It could have been used right way or left to harden and cut into

blocks for a later date of candle making. It had a definite animal smell but seemed to

have a longer burn time than the bayberry candle. It was then dipped or molded. If one

used a mold, the mold would have probably been oiled on the inside before the first

pour to make the candle easier to remove after cooling. Because of the animal scent,

these candles were prime targets for rodent eating so most candles, dear to those who

made them, were stored as a finished product in a closeable metal container. The

same was done for any saved blocks, kept for later usage, which were also placed in

metal containers to keep them from being devoured by rodents looking for a meal!

Beeswax candles are as popular today as they were in the 18 th Century due to the long

burn, the lovely smell, and the soft light that is produced. The wax is taken from older

hives as if too much wax is removed the bees seem to make more wax than honey and

the purpose of the hive is defeated. After the wax is removed from the hive, it was left

in the open air to allow the bees to remove the existing honey and leave the pure wax.

Melted and strained through cheesecloths, it is ready to be used for candle formation. It

also was able to be hand dipped or molded. Due to its soft texture, it would be easily

removed from a mold if the atmosphere were warm enough.

One should be able to see why now that the average family would have only had two

candles or so to be able to use per week. Candles were used for darkened areas and

to find one’s way to the outdoor facilities or a darked area for sleeping. Most families

spent quality time by the fireplace for light and heat through the year and especially

during the cold seasons. Sometimes that large fireplace had a window in it and if the

window was visible from the barn or outdoor facility, a candle was lit and put in the

window to help guide the way to or from. It was also placed there as a sign of

hospitality for any wayward traveler to know they were welcome to stop by for shelter.

The collection of the wax, the time involved in melting and straining it, and then the

hand dipping or pouring into molds and preparing the candles was a time consuming

arduous task. I think of this procedure when I see a candle in a window as today the

electric light bulbs used in window candles are seven watts-which is the light of seven

candles. Candles are a common mainstream of our lives today for ambiance and

beauty, but in the 18th Century they were a much treasured item that that was used only

when necessary.