At least part of the reason that you can find so many beautiful, ornate, handmade and gorgeous decorative lamps, lights and fixtures is the symbolism of light to cultures all over the world. Light is one of those wonderful nouns with a meaning well beyond it’s dictionary meaning – and rare among these words and concepts in that the feelings it conjures for people cross many cultural boundaries. It is a scientific phenomena that creates all sorts of feelings for us, from sleepiness, to comfort, to romanticism, to an occasional terror in its absence. Lights are made from fire, one of the basic elements, along with earth, air and water, and light is essential to life on earth. While Gollum may have survived in a cave, living on lichen, without light most of the plants on Earth could not photosynthesize, the animals would have nothing to eat, and neither would we. Light is justified in being revered, and thought of as a symbol for divinity and spirituality, and having gorgeous homes created for it, because without it, there would be no ‘us’! Different cultures have expressed their reverence of light in varying, fascinating ways.

Primitive religions worship light as it is, without using it as a prop for another being which is easier for humans to relate to (God, Yahweh, Allah). This worship continues in at least two of the major religions still found today – Zoroastrians, based in the Indian subcontinent, worship Ahura-Mazda, the eternal principle of life and righteousness. In Parsi, the Zoroastrian religion, fire, along with air and water, is a sacred element. Among other things, this means that they do not cremate their dead, as the dead are supposed to defile the sacred element. In religions such as Buddhism and Brahmanism, the ultimate aim of religious practice is enlightenment – having a light to be able to see things as they truly are. Darkness is equated with confusion, delusion, ignorance … but not bliss!

Light, flames, and candles play an integral part in many of the major religions also. In Jewish tradition, the Holy of Holies was a cloud of light which symbolized the presence of Yahweh. Jewish synangogues have their lamp which is never allowed to be extinguished, and the menorah which is lit at Hanukkah symbolizes the Jewish people’s freedom. In Islam, lit flames and lamps mark holy places, and in Christianity, the Holy Ghost is a flame inside all of us, and Jesus was the way, the truth and the light. In some ways, humans’ attention to the decoration of light sources is a way of worshipping divinity and getting in touch with our spirituality. Fire, especially, does seem to have a life of its own, to be eternal yet ephemeral, and somehow to know what is inside of you.

The Roman Catholic church is one with which many of us in the Western world would be familiar, and is one of the religions especially fixated with the use of light. In the Catholic tradition, light represents God or the Holy Spirit – it is a concrete representation of their presence on Earth. It is also made as an offering to God, and lighting a candle is a well-recognized way of worshipping. It is as if the lighter is saying that they pledge to be God on Earth, to uphold the principles He and the church stand for. Light is also used as a ward against evil, and cleansing to the soul. Some more gruesome evidence of this belief can be witnessed if you investigate the witch-trials of the medieval times, when ‘witches’ power could only be nullified by burning her at the stake – fire was the only thing that could act against such ‘evil’. When a new church is consecrated, twelve lights are placed around the walls at twelve spots. They are anointed by a bishop with holy oil, and relit on every anniversary. Lights are necessary for Easter ceremonies, baptism ceremonies, and also excommunication ceremonies to disallow someone from entering the church again – where a light is extinguished, to symbolize that God’s light is no longer a part of the person’s life.

It was not always so in the Catholic church, though – a few hundred years after Christ’s death, Lactantius saw giving light to the source of all light (God) a signal that their God was not true – “They [the pagans] burn lights as to one dwelling in darkness. . . Is he to be thought in his right mind who offers for a gift the light of candles and wax tapers to the author and giver of light? . . . But their Gods, because they are of the earth, need light that they need not be in darkness”.

Torres Strait Islanders, from Northern Australia, would often leave a charm in the shape of a pregnant woman to tend the fire whenever all of them were obliged to leave the house for a time. She would tend the fire, and stop it from going out – thereby keeping the house safe.

The people of Burkina Faso are wonderful, comprehensive examples of how important fire is to less technological cultures, for a variety of pragmatic and comfort reasons. These people use fire for hunting, for harvesting honey, for firing pottery, regenerating pasture for their livestock, readying fields for sowing, preparing charcoal, and getting ash for salt to use in their cooking.

We in the developed world know how important light is to us when we experience a power blackout, and are rendered virtually useless at any of our usual activities, simply for lack of candles and the fact that our lifestyle is based around electricity. With it such a necessary element in our lives, it is very understandable why people have created such involved, gorgeous, time-consuming works of art to hold their lights in… and why you have the benefit of their reverence for the beautification of your home.

Photo credits: ‘A morning experiment’ by Stevacek, ‘Devotion’ by Wam Mosely

          

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