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Holiday Countdown

Day 5: Candles

Author: Danielle Oberg is a PhD student in Geosciences and is the secretary of the Museum Advisory Council.

Candles represent both religious and nonspiritual winter events. They’re associated with a variety of traditions, including Yuletide, the winter solstice, the guiding star of Bethlehem, the menorah of Chanukah, and the Kinara of Kwanzaa.

Here are a few objects from the Museum’s collections that are associated with the light a candle offers – candlesticks, lamps, and lightbulbs.

A pink glass globular-shaped lamp with a brown metal base. The lamp is sitting on a white surface with cabinets in the background.
A clear lightbulb held between cotton-gloved fingers. There are more lightbulbs in small boxes behind the featured one.
A decorative white glass candlestick on a white surface with cabinets in the background.
A hand holding a clear flower-shaped lightbulb.
A rectangular metal lamp with clear glass sides.
An old-fashioned clear light-bulb on a wooden-based that says "Replica of Thomas Edison's Incandescent Lamp."