The history and use of church candles goes back many thousands of years and can be traced through many religions across time. One of the first recordings of candles in use lies in the Egyptian history books where it is said the Egyptians frequently used church candles made from beeswax, however mention is also made of types of taper candles for ritual purposes using tallow covered rushes. These rituals where for the purpose of interpretation of dreams and communication with he gods through meditation as one closely studied and focus on the heart of the flame.
The relatively steady rate of a burning candle has lent itself since the turn of the last millennium to the use of time keeping. Candles used in this way would normally have sections marked on their side to represent each period of time, in the case of western communities this would be in periods of an hour. In China the Sung Dynasty made use of church candles in this way. Later on time keeping candles were developed further with the addition of weights pushed into the side which would then fall into a dish to make a noise marking the passing of time. In more modern times we in the west are now familiar with the Advent church candle, used to mark the 24 days leading up to Christmas day.
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