History of candle making

Candle making was developed independently in a number of countries around the world.^[1]

Candles were primarily made from tallow and beeswax in Europe from the Roman period until the modern era, when spermaceti (from sperm whales) was used in the 18th and 19th centuries,^[2] and purified animal fats (stearin) and paraffin wax since the 19th century.^[1] In China, textual evidence suggests that candles may have been made from whale fat in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE).^[3] Chinese candles may be made from beeswax, or stillingia tallow from Chinese tallow tree, or Chinese wax derived from insects. While the Japanese may use Japan wax from the Japanese wax tree.^[4] In India, wax from boiling cinnamon was used for temple candles.^[3]

In Europe, a number of techniques were used to make candles in the early periods. These may be dipping or drawing a wick in molten wax or tallow, shaping it by hand by rolling soft wax around a wick, or pouring wax or tallow over the wick. Moulds were used later, and in the 19th century, large-scale industrial manufacturing technique was introduced for the mass production of candles. Candle use declined with the arrival of other methods of lighting such as electric light, although candles are still being made.