New Monday Shoot #25: Candles, or Something Like Them

New Monday Shoot #25: Nearly everyone has candles, for one purpose of another. Photograph one or more candles - real or otherwise.

Leaky oil-fed torch candles

It occurred to me today at church that St. Michael's has a lot of candles of various sizes and uses, and not all of them are actual wax candles. Last summer the "torches" (basically candles on a pole) tended to burn down fast and unevenly, due to a large box fan situated near whether the acolytes sit in the sanctuary. Sometimes the candles blew out entirely in the middle of mass, and at least once I ended up with wax in my hair. To solve this problem, the Altar Guild bought plastic torches filled with lamp oil. They look identical to the real candles from a distance, but they don't burn down. One problem, though: the oil tends to leak down the pole onto the acolyte's hands. Yuck! And they still go out in the middle of mass sometimes.

Spot the real candle.

Other candles at St. Michael's are partially real, like most of the ones on or near the altar. A normal-size white candle is fitted into a much larger housing. The large "candles" stay the same size, but the real candle inside burns down and is replaced.

Still other "candle"-shaped lights are just electric bulbs, as in the chandeliers.


And still other candles at St. Michael's are real, like these votives.

Here at home, we mostly have votive candles for jack-o-lanterns and Christmas luminaria. But my favorite candle is this snowman, which is roughly as old as I am. My mom wanted to burn it down once as a symbolic goodbye to winter, but I got upset that she was destroying a relic of my childhood and she eventually relented. I don't regret this.

Your turn! Do you have candles around for aromatherapy or romantic dinners, religious use or decor, or simply as a light source in case of power failures? Whatever they look like, whatever they're for, please show us in your blog or journal, with a link from there back here, and from the comments here back to your blog. I'll be back in a week to show off everyone's candles. Thanks!

Karen