world religion world religion maps world religion symbols |
Encyclopedia of Religion entry forCandlesThe Chinese burn candles on their domestic altars. At sunset they place a burning candle in the " lantern of Heaven " which is suspended near the doorposts of the house. Candles are burned in front of the ancestral soul-tablets. Every evening, as long as the coffin of a deceased person is in the house, these candles are offered to the soul. In the funeral procession lighted candles are carried in lanterns hanging from curved poles. The lanterns bear inscriptions. " Their use in broad daylight shows decidedly that they are designed to pilot the soul, which lives in complete darkness, along the right path to the burial ground," and perhaps the inscriptions " are intended to prevent the soul from being led astray by other lanterns, which it may happen to see along the road " (de Groot). A peculiar kind of candle stands on the altar or in front of the altar in the temples of Tibetan Buddhists or Lamas. This temple-lamp is " a short pedestalled bowl, into a socket in the center of which is thrust a cotton wick, and it is fed by melted butter. As the great mass of butter solidifies and remains mostly in this state, the lamp is practically a candle. The size varies according to the means and the number of the temple votaries, as it is an act of piety to add butter to this lamp. One is necessary, but two or more are desirable, and on special occasions 108 or 1,000 small lamps are offered upon the altar. Sometimes a cluster of several lamps form a small candelabrum of the branching lotus-flower pattern " (Waddell). See L. A. Waddell; J. J. M. de Groot, R.S. citations: Encyc. of Rel., Canney
article created 2006-04-12 , last updated 2006-04-12 |
|
|
|
||