Photo by Rick McKee
Stella Maris Roman Catholic Church, Sullivans Island
Candlelight has a special way of creating ambience, especially during the holidays.
Everybody – and everything – responds to candlelight.
Each year, when our Christmas party is over and the scent of burnt wicks mingled with hot wax hovers in the air, I finally feel I’ve paid proper homage to the holiday season. Candlelight, and the significance it has, has a starring role during the holidays – both in the home and the ceremonies outside of it.
Quite a few of us have candle fever, according to Leigh McAlpin, who, along with her husband Tim, owns Dwelling home furnishings store on King Street. McAlpin says she is selling more strictly candle chandeliers.
“Just the fact that we carry three different styles in stock says something. People are using them inside and out, on covered porches and patios.
“There is nothing nicer than holiday dinners by candlelight, and with a chandelier, you get more light, a larger source of glow. It heightens the drama, brings in aspects of a bygone era and makes the occasion feel more intimate.”
Photo by Rick McKee
Stella Maris Roman Catholic Church, Sullivans Island
Also gaining in popularity are candle sconces. “Mirrored ones really reflect the flicker and glow, and are a nice way to light up your home without feeling like it’s ablaze,“ McAlpin says.
One of her favorite holiday fragrances is the store’s best-selling Hervé Gambs Noel gourmand pomme d’amour, which has a candy apple fragrance that hits the mark with just about everybody.
“They feel like they know what it is, but they can’t quite place it,” McAlpin says.
ceremony and celebration
One of the most popular ways of heralding the holidays for many Lowcountry residents is The Citadel’s Candlelight Christmas Service, which takes place early in December. It begins simply but touchingly, with the cadets singing as they make their way down the aisle of the Summerall Chapel, two at a time, holding small tapered candles. The candlelight illuminates each young face, and their sweet, clear voices grow in number as they fill the church – it’s a hopeful, timeless scene, perfect for welcoming the coming celebration.
“That’s the only part of the service I’ve been told I can never change,” says the school’s director of chorale activities Nancy Lefter, who’s organized the multi-denominational service for 15 years. “It’s a very emotional thing and it’s what everybody remembers and what they leave with – watching the cadets come in with candles and kneeling.”
For many, candles and candlelight are synonymous with the holidays. According to the National Candle Association, about 35 percent of the nation’s $2 billion annual candle sales occur during the holidays. Given that seven out of every 10 American households use them, that’s a lot of seasonal warmth.
Photo by Larry Mellichamp
the candlelight memorial ceremony is held each november at colonial lake, downtown Charleston.
“We triple the number of candles we sell during the holidays,” agrees Melissa Cosker, who co-owns North Charleston-based Soyful Candle Company. “They make nice, gender-neutral gifts for teachers, neighbors, coworkers.” Sold at the Farmer’s Market and local shops, Cosker’s hand-poured, natural soy candles include the holiday best-seller hollyberry mistletoe, an evergreen scent.
Candles define tradition and ceremony, celebration and romance.
At the annual Candlelight Memorial Ceremony held each November at Colonial Lake, they symbolize remembrance; luminaries surround the lake in memory of deceased loved ones, and participants gather, holding additional candles, to remember those they’ve lost.
“The candles symbolize that although your loved one is no longer here physically, the love you shared is constantly burning in your heart,” says Lisa Anderson, bereavement coordinator for
Hospice of Charleston, host of the event. “They also have a very calming, therapeutic affect.”
“Candles are a reminder that Jesus said he was the light of the world,” says Father John Parker of Holy Ascension Orthodox Church. As in many faiths, including the Catholic church, there are always candles in a Greek orthodox church.
“It’s customary for people coming into the church to purchase candles, say a prayer and place the candle in front of an icon,” says Parker. “When we look at that candle box and see 25 candles burning, we know there are 25 prayers – it’s a visual reminder, and it’s also a sacrifice, an offering we can’t get back.”
Photo by Russ Pace
The Citadel’s Candlelight Christmas Service takes place in early December
Holy Ascension uses beeswax candles made by the residents of Saints Mary and Martha Monastery in Wagener, S.C. “They’re natural and naturally fragrant, and it’s a way to support our beekeepers.”
Rituals that involve fire are powerful, says Robin Schuler, who celebrates Hanukkah by bringing out her collection of eight menorahs – one of which burns olive oil.
“I’m a big fan of rituals,” says Schuler, “because they bring people together and invoke an emotion that you can’t get any other way. Those involving the light and warmth of fire – a living flame – are especially powerful, and I think that’s why they continue.
“Lighting the menorah personifies the season as a season of light in a dark time, both metaphorically – because we as Jews are celebrating overcoming assimilation – and physically, because it’s winter and the days are so short,” explains Schuler.
Each person in her family of four lights his or her own menorah on the last night of Hanukkah. “So it’s very hot,” she laughs, “because there’s a lot of fire.”
Interior designer Emily Woollcott of Slate Interiors suggests lighting a fragrant candle near the entry to your home during a party. Woollcott often uses candles to inexpensively accessorize and decorate a space. “I just used a row of six round candles on a European dining table to hip up a traditional dining setting.
“Candlelight has a significant presence during the holidays, weddings, Christenings, special occasions, romantic dinners, power shortages, sex, and even some births. For all the most important life events, when you think about it.”
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