It is the Chinese New Year on January 23rd. It is the year of the Dragon! I wanted to know if there was a tradition involving candles around the Chinese New Year celebration. Guess what I found out?
The Chinese New Year Festival is 15 days long and The Lantern Festival is the last day. This year that would be February 6th. The Lantern Festival is believed to have been around for 2000 years. Chinese families traditionally make paper lanterns and put candles in them. They put them around their house and the children carry them into the streets. It sounds cute but I would not recommend this practice. I love the idea of using natural beeswax candles to decorate your house but don’t recommend that you put them in paper lanterns because of safety concerns. Instead decorate with Chinese lanterns without candles inside and burn some pure natural beeswax Honey Candles® Red Tealights, Tapers or Pillars in appropriate holders around the house. If you like to spend time with your children doing crafts I found a great project making a Chinese New Year’s Tealight holder using a glass jar, red tissue paper and white glue. This is a much safer idea and very special because you make it yourself. The big bonus comes if it was a project that you and your kids do together. It will make the Chinese New Year a fun time to look forward to particularly if you can use the Tealight holder year after year. If you aren’t crafty you can also use a metal and glass candle lantern with Tealights. Fill your home with joyous light and the natural scent of pure beeswax. Beautiful and long burning - Honey Candles® pure natural beeswax candles will make your Chinese New Year's celebrations both elegant and green.
Red is a very important color to the Chinese people. There are many websites that speak to why and how they express that importance. China Red is one of those sites. Honey Candles® will soon have a new true Red available on our website. Please watch for it in the coming days. I will update this blog when it is available. I hope you enjoy this Year of the Dragon by decorating with red and burning purifying, natural pure beeswax Honey Candles® in your home.
Photo by Pat Cattermole
