Waxworks – T.I. Christou

The art of candlemaking

Candlemaking in Edessa and Florina

In the remote cities of Edessa and Florina, another remarkable and unexplored form of wax art survives. This is the "sculpture" of woven candle, which as an artistic handicraft, can be included in the category of "microplasty" and is a survival of an old Macedonian handicraft tradition, which has nothing to do with the well-known industrial wax, in which molds are used. and matrices. The Macedonian candlestick works only by hand and the result of this skill is the various wax objects, small works of art.

There are, at present, no known written sources that confirm the manifestations and the course of the art of woven candles in Greece.

Today's candle makers, when you ask them about it, answer you vaguely that they made knitted candles from the Byzantine years. Yes, but what candles did they make? Probably the traditional psychic candles were woven from the very old days, the braided candles, like today, are the ones of Florina and Edessa in the shape of a cross, and maybe colored candles, reliefs, with double-headed eagles and crosses. A sample of such candles made at least 150 years ago is today in Florina in the workshop of the Davkos brothers.

Four of the five candle makers of Florina come from the Monastery (Bitola), a Greek area that today belongs to FYROM, from where their grandparents and fathers left and came to Florina between 1914 - 1918, bringing with them art their candle making and waxing. The same goes for the two Edessa candlesticks: their father was a candle maker in the Monastery and came to Edessa in 1919. The professional candle-making activity in the Monastery was directly related to the monastery of Agios Dimitrios. After all, even today, the candlesticks are located mainly around the metropolitan church of each city.

In Florina and Edessa, refugee candle makers opened their own workshops and later passed on the art to their children and grandchildren. However, according to oral testimonies in Florina, there were also local workshops. The patron saint of Florina candlesticks is the prophet Daniel. On the day of his feast, December 17, they do not work and go "uphill" to the church.

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