A bayberry candle burned to the socket,
will bring joy to the heart and gold to the pocket.
If you haven’t bought one already don’t forget to run out and buy a bayberry candle sometime tonight or tomorrow afternoon.
It’s tradition in our family to light a bayberry candle on Christmas Eve and to let it burn until it burns itself out. It is supposed to bring good luck in the coming year. I’d have sworn it was the superstitious Irish side of mom’s family that carried this tradition over but a little Internet research tells me that this is an American tradition dating back to the Colonial Days.
To me it doesn’t really matter who started the tradition.What matters most to me is the feeling I get when I light our yearly bayberry candle. When I light the candle each Christmas Eve I am connected to the women in my family who came before me.
It was too late for me to buy a bayberry candle, but I hope to remember to buy one and burn it on New Years Eve!
As it turns out I didn’t have a bayberry candle to burn on Christmas Eve either. I thought I’d go over to Yankee Candle on Christmas Eve and buy one. As it turns out The Yankee Candle in Sicklerville and the Yankee Candle in Deptford Mall were sold out of bayberry votive candles as were the three Hallmark stores in my area as well as the local CVS. I got a bayberry candle from mom but it was too big. It didn’t burn itself on Christmas Eve. I had to burn it Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I’m hoping to find a bayberry votive in time for New Years Eve.