No-drip candles for Easter Vigil?
  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,084
    So, I was surprised to learn that at my parish where I've been director for only a year the pastor hands out electric votive lights for people to switch on during the Easter Vigil instead of using candles. After asking other staff why that dumb idea was the practice, I was told it avoids having to clean up wax after the liturgy.

    Before I bring up at the next liturgy committee meeting that we shouldn't be using electric votive lights instead of candles, do any of you have recommendations for Easter Vigil congregation candles that would eliminate or greatly reduce wax droppings?
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,980
    I wanted to ban them for the same reason. That wax sets up like concrete and I think I cleaned up wax for months after Easter. There has to be some kind of guard or candle follower that could keep the wax on the candle. Of course, keeping candles away from the wobbly old lady who spilled the wax everywhere would have helped. But, when I retired they were still using non-dripless candles and I suspect someone else can clean up wax.

    There are dripless candles on the market but they may cost more. That could be a solution.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    This is an impossibly dumb and artless decision. Electric lights instead of candles. I'm sorry to say it but only a Catholic would come up with something so disgusting and hideous - and tradition bashing.. What an ultra convenience and 'practical minded' priest you have. It would be highly amusing if it weren't so serious a matter.

    The candles that I have seen for the vigil are inserted in to small plastic cups which are wide enough to receive any dripping wax. Where could your priest have been ('out to lunch?' or 'out to sea?") when these became commonplace years ago. Surely, these are found at just about any church goods store.

    As for cleaning up was off the floor? It should be embraced as a very joyful and effective act of humility - and the priest should lead the way
    _______________________________

    Speaking of candles - how many here used unbleached beeswax candles on Good Friday?
    Thanked by 2tomjaw Elmar
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    @MJO
    We used beeswax candles! including for Tenebrae.

    We don't have the wax problem at the Vigil because the pre-55 does not have the candle ceremony stolen from the Feast of Candlemas or the other nonsense made up by a committee.
    We do have the wax problem on Candlemas, but we have wooden floors!
    Thanked by 1MatthewRoth
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    But were they unbleached?
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • francis
    Posts: 10,825
    beeswax is a natural protection for wooden floors and pews... rub it in! we had the pre 55 holy week where the wax of bees was highly praised...

    http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2012/03/of-bees-exsultet-paschal-candle-and.html#.YG4LZGgpDMU

    (if you have cushions on your pews or carpet on your floor, they should be removed to honor the bees, and promote the natural acoustic that promotes good sacred music)
    Thanked by 4a_f_hawkins Chris Garton-Zavesky Elmar WGS
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,471
    ^^^^what francis says ^^^^^
    Pure Beeswax Taper Candles – Tall (6 in), Unscented, Dripless, Smokeless,
  • CatherineS
    Posts: 690
    We always use the little plastic cups. The size for espresso is big enough.
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    But were they unbleached?
    Yes, forgot to write that important word in my post.
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 402
    I was pleasantly surprised that this year we had dripless candles for Easter Vigil. I believe they bought these:

    https://www.cathedralcandle.com/MobileStore/tabid/231/CategoryID/35/Default.aspx#.YG40qiXOeEc

    These would not be acceptable for Candlemas as they are not made of wax, let alone the required 51% beeswax for the Blessing of Candles (at least in the EF).

  • MarkB
    Posts: 1,084
    I found these, which are inexpensive. Are 100% beeswax candles really dripless?

    https://www.amazon.com/Danilovo-Beeswax-Taper-Candles-White/dp/B08YZ3PVWG/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=dripless+candles+orthodox&qid=1617838239&sr=8-3&th=1
  • CatherineS
    Posts: 690
    Worth remembering that dripless candles are only dripless if they burn standing upright in still air. Tipping them at an angle or a breeze will cause dripping. Both conditions are common when the congregation is holding lit candles. The little paper or plastic disks, cones or cups are much more reliable.
    Thanked by 1Elmar
  • davido
    Posts: 943
    We have plastic holders with a flat disc like top and the candles stick down in the holder
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 402
    Be wary of cheap beeswax candles and tapers. Not all beeswax is created equally and may not be properly purified, resulting in a most unpleasant aroma, especially when burning. If you remember those old canvas tents from the 60s and 70s that smell funky? That’s the beeswax that they’re treated with for waterproofing.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,471
    tomjaw - I think candles for the people at the Easter Vigil are taken from the Byzantine tradition rather than borrowed from Candlemas. (Plain beeswax tapers are currently out of stock everwhere I look, ¿all committed for 2nd May?)
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