Candles promote world peace, end to poverty, and child health

Written by Michael Vass

Sometimes I just wish you can hear more positive news in the media. And in this case the news involved a world record and a symbolism of peace and purity in the world. And nothing says that more than a candle.

In fact not just one candle but 66,840 candles which represented the 6.684 billion people in the world today. And another 195 candles with different colors to represent the countries of the world today. This huge number of candles were all lit by His Holiness Sri Vasanth Gurudevji.

I am not familiar with him, but I take it that he is a very prominent religious figure for some. He is also well know for his gestures to promote the concept of world peace. It seems that he currently hold four Guinness World Records, two Limca Book of Records and several awards all related to his efforts to promote world peace. And I have to applaud that effort.

The 66,840 candles were part of the 10 day festival (from September 30 to October 9) that is the Millennium Development Goal and World Peace Festival 2008. This is to highlight the promises made by world leaders in the U.N in 2000.

The promises made on behalf of the people of the world in 200 were:

to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; to achieve universal primary education
to promote gender equality and empower women
to reduce child mortality
to improve maternal health
to combat HIV and AIDS
to combat malaria and other diseases; to ensure environmental sustainability
to develop a global partnership for development

So I can only hope that some news media in England was capable of videotaping this event, or perhaps one of you my readers. If you do have a picture of all these candles lit, I would love to see it. I imagine that they looked as beautiful as the world leaders actually living up to their promises and removing poverty, hunger, AIDS, lowering childhood deaths and the other goals.

In the sky, It’s a bird. It’s a UFO. No it’s a candle.

Written by Michael Vass

Candles are wonderful items. They provide light in the dark, are decorations in homes, and integral to the connection some have with God in their religion. Candles have been around in one form or another since at least the Egyptians if not older. Everyone has at least one in their home right now.

And candles may just be the invention of Aliens.

Now I may be wrong but I’m pretty sure that while the history of candles may be lost to the depths of the past, I doubt that mystery is on par with the Pyramids. It’s highly doubtful that alien visitors left them for man to build technology upon. Of course I could be wrong.

It seems that this was what quite a few people in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire seemed to believe recently. Well almost. What happened was far more terrestrial.

It seems that there was a party and some of the party-goers decided to release some balloons. The balloons were attached to candles that were lit. The purpose of this is to grant the person a wish, making their dreams come to life. But of course this was not the dreams of over a dozen people looking into the night sky.

The police were called with citizenry in a panic that alien UFO’s were converging in preparation for an invasion, or at least observing the Earth.

So the net time you are in Scotland, enjoying a party with friends, you might want to call the police before trying to make your dreams come true.

Candles Make Great Vacation Memories

When we’re on vacation, we typically bring things home such as sweatshirts, post cards and bottles of wine. I really believe that some of the best vacation memories can be forged forever with candles.

Many candle shops offer locally-made candles and many of these candles are created with the fruits of the land. For example, you can bring home candles that smell the sea from your most memorable beach vacation. Better yet, you can bring home a scented pine from your summer vacation in the Green Mountain State.

Candles are relatively cheap and they’re easy to transport. Many types of candles could be stuffed into a suitcase or a duffel bag with little chance of breaking or spilling. Here’s an interesting post which gives you great directions on how to make a candle with sand from anywhere. Interested?

Use Floating Candles for Your Wedding Centerpieces

Are you like me, bored to death over seeing floral arrangements as table centerpieces at every wedding that you’ve ever been to since you were 5? Think about the last wedding you’ve been to and tell me the color of the flowers that made up the table centerpiece? Can you remember the type of flowers? You can probably remember the band, the cocktail hour, and whether your chateaubriand was overcooked but very few weddings have a unique enough floral centerpiece that you can remember them as little as a week after the wedding. Oh, wow, isn’t that beautiful and then it’s forgotten.

Floating candle centerpieces make some extraordinary and lasting impressions on your guests and in many cases, they’re much cheaper than floral centerpieces. In fact, a floating candle centerpiece accented with 1 or 2 floating roses is one the most beautiful presentations I have even see. Better yet, you can do it yourself.

Floating candles in a shallow bowl adds light to your table top. You could also create a multi-level candle presentation on a glass or mirrored tile surrounded by flowers, sea shells or in the fall, some beautiful fall foliage. Candles embedded in aromatic substances such as chocolate could also wow your guests.

Consider a candle dominated centerpiece instead of flowers. If you are environmentally conscious, you could also use some soy candles to save the flowers.

Most importantly, have fun with your centerpiece.

Are My Candles Good for Me?

After our inaugural post, we received some emails asking if candles are good for you. The simple answer is that there are many things in this world that are much worse than candles but if you are really interested in the subject of healthy candles, I would suggest that you look at some of the candles sold in health food stars. Many candles on the market contain lead wicks and petroleum so as you can imagine, breathing these things isn’t very good for you. If you want to buy healthy candles, look for beeswax, vegetable oil, or soy based candles. These are virtually harmless and are better for your white walls.

Green Candles?

Next time you visit Alexandria, Virginia, consider paying a visit to Margie Chichelli’s candle store. The story carries 40 different soy-based candles. Unlike the paraffin cousin, soy-based candles emit little smoke or soot which make them perfect for a home. In addition, Ms. Chichelli claims that soy-based candles burn much slower than the paraffin candle.

Around the holidays, the store will create specially scented holiday candles. In fact, the shop produces candles based on the season, spicy for the holidays and key lime for hot summer months.

You can visit the website and browse around. Tell them that Candles Blog sent you.