Basic Introduction to Cisou Candle
The Cisou Candle is an ancient folk craft, with the magnificent Dragon and Phoenix candles as its representative. Under the modern neon lights, this ancient craft appears quite primitive.
Historical Folklore
The Cisou Candle is a handmade traditional craft, a crystallization of the wisdom of all ethnic groups in Cisou. It is characterized by novelty, uniqueness, brilliance, and splendor. Not only is it an essential decoration and lighting tool for festivals and celebrations among the people of Cisou, but it is also sold outside the county and province and is very popular.
Although the history of the formation of the Cisou Candle is not very long, its evolution has gone through a long historical process. It can be roughly divided into three stages: “torch — candle — flower candle.”
A well-known fact is that after our ancestors discovered and preserved fire, they mainly used it for cooking, lighting, and warmth.
A burning wooden stick could be held and moved, which is the ancestor of the torch. Later, people bundled dry branches (especially those containing more oil, such as pine), bark (such as cedar or cypress), or dried bamboo and ignited them to become torches, which was an improvement and development of the torch. The ancestors of Cisou also soaked the long stems of sunflowers in water for a long time, then dried them, which served as quite good lighting material. People in Cisou called this “sunflower stalk,” also known as “light stalk” or “bright stalk.” They were white, light, easy to store, easy to carry, easy to ignite, had a long burn time, and high brightness. Now, fewer people use them. Later, people found that although torches made from dry branches, bark, and dried bamboo were good, they were not easy to carry and did not last long. Therefore, they wrapped grass ropes, old cloth strips, or wicks around dry branches and dried bamboo and dipped them in oil, making much better torches. The ancestors of Cisou called these torches made by wrapping bamboo slices with grass ropes, old cloth strips, or wicks and then soaking them in vegetable oil and drying them “grass shoe slices.” These were easy to obtain materials, simple to make, capable of mass production, easy to store and carry, had a long burn time, and due to good air circulation inside, had greater brightness. Later, when kerosene became available, people used raw bamboo, sawing it into sections about one meter long, with one end sharpened to be inserted into the ground and the other end hollow. They filled the hollow with kerosene and plugged the opening with cloth, paper, cotton, or cotton yarn, primarily for outdoor lighting, known as “oil cylinders” (people also called these “torches”). More than 300 years ago, in some night markets in Europe, there were even people holding torches aloft on the street side, like a row of living street lamps. This was the predecessor of candles, or perhaps a twin product of candles.
This was the result of people's need for survival, utilizing and transforming natural objects. To improve brightness and extend the lighting time while being convenient to handle, plants and animals with high fat content were generally utilized. For example, in South America, there is a “candle walnut,” whose fruit is delicious and burns brightly when lit. Additionally, there is a fish with a lot of fat that people catch, insert a long thin branch into its belly, light it, and make a fish lamp. Inserting a branch into the mouth of a plump bird creates a bird lamp. On Lo毕 Island in the Gulf of Guinea, there is a snake called “Kugasha” with a lot of fat in its body. When it encounters a spark, the snake will be burned alive, and people also make snake lamps out of it.
Candle (the traditional character is 烛). According to “Shuowen Jiezi” (Explanation of Simple and Derived Characters): “Candle, court torch, a fire torch. Composed of the radical ‘fire' and the phonetic ‘shu.'” Duan Yucui's commentary: There is a mistake with the character ‘fire,' it should be ‘big.' Later scholars followed his explanation. Niu Shuyu's “Jiaolu” (Collected Annotations): “In his commentary on the ‘Zhouli – Official of Fire,' Zheng He said, ‘Placed outside the gate is called a big torch; placed within the gate is called a court torch.'” Ban Gu in the “History of the Han Dynasty. Book of Food and Goods” wrote: In winter, when the people have returned indoors, women in the same lane gather together at night to work on their weaving. Women engaged in weaving can work for forty-five days in a month. They gather together to save on torches and to standardize skill levels and customs. Tang Kejing, author of “A Modern Interpretation of Shuowen Jiezi,” notes: Although the terms “court torch” and “big torch” are distinct when analyzed separately, they are not differentiated when considered collectively, both referring to torches. In the “Great Chinese Dictionary,” the word “candle” has several meanings: torch, wax candle, illuminate, thoroughly understand, and burn a candle. Ancient history books also referred to comets as “torch stars.” According to “The Book of Rites – Zengzi Wen,” “Confucius said: In a family sending off a daughter in marriage, the candles are not extinguished for three nights, thinking of the parting; in a family receiving a wife, music is not played for three days, thinking of the deceased relatives.” In many ancient texts, phrases like “read by candlelight” and “nightly outings by candlelight” often appear. For example, in the book “Tang Zhilv,” in the third volume, there is the phrase “nightly outings by candlelight.” In the Siku version and Zanyitang version, it is written as “Bing,” while in the shadow Song version, it is written as “Bin.” In printed versions, the shadow Song version's “Bin” is chosen. Another example is in the junior high school Chinese textbook. Duke Ping of Jin asked Master Kuang, “I am seventy years old and want to learn, but I fear it may be too late.” Master Kuang replied, “Why not read by candlelight?” Duke Ping said, “How could a minister jest with his lord?” Master Kuang said, “How dare a blind minister jest with his lord? I have heard that learning in youth is like the rising sun; learning in adulthood is like midday sunlight; learning in old age is like the light of a candle. The light of a candle, compared to walking in darkness, which is better?” Duke Ping said, “Excellent!” From historical records, the character “candle” was used early and relatively commonly, but this does not necessarily mean that candles already existed. Only in Wang Chong's “Lunheng – Luck and Encounter” from the Eastern Han dynasty do we see: “Some melt tallow candles, some burn dried grass,” which is the earliest record about candles, and it also indicates that they were made using animal and plant oils.
Manufacturing Method
Raw Materials
The raw materials used for the Cisou Candle are sourced locally: beeswax, tallow, bamboo, and wick grass. Wick grass is a specialty of Tangtou Town in Cisou, a perennial herbaceous plant. Its stem is soft and long, capable of being woven into cool mats. The central part of the stem is like sponge, loose, soft, capable of expansion and contraction, absorbs water and oil, and possesses the characteristics required for a wick, suitable for use as a camellia oil lamp wick, commonly known as wick grass. The Chinese tallow tree, commonly known as “quanzi,” like the oil from tung nuts, is a specialty of the Wu River region. Tung oil and tallow flow downstream along the river and are sold far and wide, creating an ancient salt and oil route along the Wu River. The tallow oil extracted from the Chinese tallow tree is solid rather than liquid at natural temperatures. The vast fields of Chinese tallow trees on both sides of the Wu River provide a continuous supply of raw materials for flower candles, laying a material foundation.
Production Method
The production process of flower candles is relatively complex, involving dozens of steps. First, bamboo is shaved into pieces, and the top of the bamboo piece is finely and sharply shaved, wrapped with several thick layers of wick grass. After wrapping the wick grass, tallow or paraffin is poured layer by layer, like rolling a snowball, gradually making the candle thicker. A basic candle is basically made. This simplest type of stick candle comes in different colors, red and white. Red candles are