Birthday Candles Are An Age Old Tradition

Perhaps the most common symbol of birthday celebrations are birthday candles. The tradition of lighting birthday candles goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks who placed as many candles as they could on the cake as they thought the candle light made the round shape resemble a glowing full moon.

It is also thought that it was the Germans who first started manufacturing birthday candles. Instead of multiple birthday candles however, the tradition started out with placing a pillar candle or taper candle on top of the cake. These pillar candles or taper candles represented the light of life.

The Germans also pioneered another kind of birthday candle that is still popular today. The candle is delineated with
lines to block out a section of candle wax with each section representing a full year. Every year for twelve
years, the person would burn the birthday candle. Today these are known as Countdown candles and often they are given to couples celebrating the birth of a new baby.

Today, many people make silent wishes as they blow out the candles. This comes from the belief that the smoke from the birthday candles takes their wishes up to heaven.

Today you can order personalized birthday candles, which are pillar candles. Often the person’s name, age and other
personal details are molded into the candle wax. This kind of birthday candle also makes a nice candle centerpiece for a table.

The tradition is to match birthday candles on a cake with the person’s age. However, today you can buy single candles or dual candles represented numbers to represent older ages.

Modern trends in birthday candles include skinny sticks, which resemble tall, thin reeds and sparklers, which are really firecrackers. You can also buy trick birthday candles that reignite after the person has thought he or she has blown them out.

The look of birthday candles can also be greatly enhanced by candleholders. Individual Life Savers make excellent candle holders for birthday candles on children’s cakes.

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