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 18th 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.