Candles

Since January 2024 I've been saving candle ends. This time also from the memorial candles which we've taken to the graves of our love ones. I've been collecting them into a shoe box. It's not the best possible storage because during the time the candle wax gets absorbed to the card board material and I needed to put it into a plastic bag. For the future purposes I will need a plastic box to storage candle ends through which the wax/oil can't get through.

Nuka thought it all smell so good greasy food that I really needed to keep my eye on her that she would not try to eat anything. At the end it is oil and fat that's used in the candles. If you do this and have pets, make sure they don't eat it.

I had difficulties to find candle wick yarn. I finally found one pack of 6 ready made wicks. Later I found a small ball of candle wick yarn. I bought also that. The 6 ready made were not long enough to have any extra so I needed to figure out how to make them stand up right. I used small wooden cocktail sticks and masking tape. Not very professional looking but worked well enough. 

I used also recycled memorial candles made of glass which I had taken home from the family graves. The shades of the candles come from the different shades of candle ends. I had white, bright red and tarry ones. The white on the bottom of the candles are the old remaining which I didn't even try to get out. Instead I poured the new candle wax over them.

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Visiting the cemeteries and taking the candles to the graves is an old cultural & pagan tradition in Finland. As Forest Sámi we may bring there also something else than candles. That might be a pine cone, feather, a special looking branch etc. Food is not allowed because of the church rules but candles and flowers are very common. Visiting a cemetery is a common habit and it doesn't need to be any special day for that. You can even go for a walk in there to reach peace. If you do so on your visit in Finland, do it silent, with respect and small 1-3 person groups.