All about Candles!

t's a source of light, makes for cozy celebrations and for over 5,000 years candles have in more recent times dazzled the young ones with birthday cakes, made weddings inspirational and generally given humanity its own sparkle of candlelight. Yet, long ago ancient Egyptians were making torches from using animal fat soaked reeds. Then, in the middle ages, beeswax candles were introduced in Europe. It was a cleanly and pure burning beeswax that didn't produce a smoky flame and it  became the technical improvement of the day. Candles are in modern times a universal cure for just about everything illuminating the world over in candle light. Visitors Flea Market at 5811 W. Irlo Bronson Hwy, Kissimmee FL makes for a candle seeker's environment and offers an indoor, air conditioned flea market with more than 222 vendor booths for the shopper. Candles are nothing new and continue to satisfy the cozy light temptation like lighting candles around the bath tub or for other mood setting. The Romans began making candles about 500 BC. Made from tallow, these were true dipped candles. Dating back to the China Qin Dynasty 221-206 BC, whale fat was used to make candles and in India, boiling cinnamon was used for temple candles. Today, candles come from a wide range of waxes. The newest trend is gel waxes. Nonetheless, the more traditional waxes of beeswax, paraffin and vegetable waxes are used in candles offered in many shapes, colors and multicolored, fragrances and no longer are only a sole source of light. Their fragrance, home decoration and ambiance quality fulfill the desires of many candle seekers. Still, the history goes on. In the 19th century, in Battersea, United Kingdom, paraffin was first used. Paraffin is an oil distillate that burns without an odor, burning bright and clean. Blended with stearic acid which hardens the paraffin and creates a cheaper and more superior candle. Categories of candles are broken down into container candles and votive candles. Container candles typically are highly fragrant, decorative and from wax poured into a special glass or pottery. Votive candles are intended and made to burn in a special holder. Originally white and unscented, special ceremonies were where they were generally used. Today, they are of many colors and fragrances.  In the 18th century, when the whale industry was thriving and whale oil was plentiful, spermaceti wax from whale oil was used to replace bayberry wax, beeswax and tallow. It has a smell that was unpleasant but during summer months, the wax was hard enough to hold its shape. Early settlers in colonial America developed a very sweet smelling and a good burning candle by boiling bayberry shrub berries but the process was not simple.