Man has been using candles since the ancient days.
The art of candle making has evolved with time.
The Chinese are credited with making the early candles.
The first candles were not made of wax.
They were made using the fat of whales.
Hence the whaling industry has helped in the growth of the candle making industry.
The earliest one are dated during the reign of the Qin dynasty in China.
Another funny thing about candle making is that a fish called candle fish was used to make them.
The fish was used to produce special oil and this oil was used for lighting purposes.
There was another method to make candles from the fish.
The fish was dried in the sun.
The dried fish was put up on a stick and then the fish was lighted.
This was the prototype of the candles that we use now.
The great kings in the annals of history used candles to record time.
They were known as candle clocks.
The first version of candle clocks had lines on them.
These lines were used to know when an hour was past.
The Chinese also used them and incense to keep track of time.
Threads with a weight at the end were employed for this purpose.
These threads were then put over a stick of incense at equal distances.
When the burning stick reaches the point of contact with the thread, the thread gets burnt.
The weight that is attached at the end falls down.
With this the time was noted.
Whenever an hour passed a weight will drop.
The Chinese also used incense with different smells to mark the passing of an hour.
They were not simple decorative objects back then.
Now we do not need candles because of electricity.
Candle making has a rich and interesting history.