February 2nd is Candlemas day. It marks the midpoint of winter, halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox kind of like groundhog day in that it is supposedly the day that will determine how much longer winter will continue. In fact Groundhog day came about from the old pagan tradition of Candlemas. "If Candlemas Day be fair and bright Winter has another flight, if Candlemas day bring clouds and rain, Winter will not come again." Hence if the ground hog sees his shadow he'll pop back into his burrow for another six weeks. I'm pretty sure than in Canmore, winter will be around for at least another six weeks whether I like it or not but it's nice to have another little tradition to celebrate.
To mark Candlemas at Isobel's school we did some candle dipping and made a few lovely beeswax candles to take home. Usually the candle dipping would have taken place outdoors but as we've had a particularly frigid week here in Canmore we set up the dipping station inside the warm and cosy classroom.
It's quite an easy process of dipping the wick into a can of melted beeswax, taking a walk around the table to let it cool before dipping for another layer. It takes some time to build up the first few layers then it starts to look excitingly like a real candle and you just keep going until you get the thickness you like.
Ahh! A photo of me! How strange! Look at that massive tummy! Sheesh!
Anyway, once you have dipped to your hearts content you hang the candles to cool and viola....beautiful, knobbly, wonderful smelling beeswax candles!
Did you know that beeswax candles do not emit any respiratory system-aggravating soot like paraffin wax candles do? In fact beeswax candles actually purify the air by giving off negative ions that remove dust, dirt and pollutants from the air! Perfect!
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