"A Bayberry candle that is burned to the socket puts luck in the home, food in the larder and gold in the pocket."
"Bayberry candles are believed to bring good luck for the coming year. The tradition dates back to the colonial days. Bayberry candles burned much better than standard beeswax candles so they were highly sought after. They were also much more expensive and harder to make. Because of this, most families only burned their Bayberry candles at special times, such as Christmas. From this the tradition of burning Bayberry candles at Christmas was born." ~ from the Shelburne Country Store website.
I ordered a set of tapered Bayberry candles for us to burn on Christmas Eve. This is the first step in our Old-Fashioned Christmas.
Instead of making our own bayberry candles, which was the Colonial custom, we made Lacey candles. You can read about that in the coming days.
My husband's Grandma burns those every year. She lights it on Christmas Eve morning, and nobody is allowed to blow it out until Christmas is over!
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