My grandfather used to tell a story that when he was a kid (Silesia, 1920s), all they had in their village was naphtha lamps. So one time when he was 6yo, he went to the church at different village, and it was already electrified. His amazement as everything around lighted up was so great that he remembered that moment even until he was in his 90s. So I believe that the difference must have been huge.
Ngl we probably had similar feeling experiences as kids growing up for a few things. I remember as a kid in the 90’s going from software rendering to hardware openGL for the first time, and the massive difference of dial-up internet to Cable Internet. I remember my dad (rip 2022) told me how much better it felt no longer having to wait with a 56k modem for a webpage to load one single image or screen with text for over 5 to 10 minutes and falling asleep waiting around, while with Cable everything loaded in a manner of 5-10 seconds. Now we freak out if a web page or thing doesn’t load in 2-3 seconds but back then you’d be lucky to get things downloaded before you passed out. I STILL remember waiting over 20-30 minutes for a single 20.1mb SNES Rom file to download for the Zsnes emulator back in 1998 or 1999 on my dads PC as my friend and I stayed up all night trying to download games so we could try 2 player emulation with only one keyboard, attempting to play an import Gundam fighting game.
Light bulbs and refrigeration really changed human life drastically. I love these episodes that cover a particular topic and how people dealt with it back then.
My great grandmother was asked what was her favorite invention during her lifetime. She said without hesitation "the washing machine!" Before its invention washing clothes by hand was an all day chore, especially since families were so large back then.
@@1TakoyakiStore a women that raised a lot of children was genuinely feared by many when she was angry, because a lot of them would have arms that could strangle a bear. Tons of laundry, dough kneeding, grocery hauling and other very labour intensive tasks made sure of that.
@@rubenskiii It's funny you say that. An ancestor on my mother's mother's side (I'm not too familiar with that side of the family so take this with a grain of salt) grew up on a dairy farm. She had to transport heavy milk containers by hand (sometime in the late 1800's in the Dakotas). Of course this caused her to develop strong arms, so much so that she was embarrased and self conscious about it since it wasn't seen as womanly attributes. 🤣
@@1TakoyakiStoreMy grandmothers in Australia said the best invention was the hot water system. Boiling water for baths, doing dishes, cleaning and washing was ongoing and awful in a hot climate. And yes the next best invention was the washing machine.
There is a theory that it wasn't feminists that allowed married women to work. It was electricity, along with washing machines, vacuum cleaners, electric irons etc.
11:40 Franklin's lantern design is so utterly iconic and everlasting that it exists to this day, albeit with LED lightbulbs in them. Most houses still carry this design as their outside lights. I wonder what he’d think of that. Fascinating
My great-grandparents were born in the 1880s in El Salvador. They didnt get kerosene lamps until the 50s, and never got electricity. The past isn't as long ago as we think!
The war tax on candles not being repealed until long after the war ended reminds me of the telephone tax from the Spanish-American War that did not get repealed for 100 years
This is basically the same story for most taxes we have. They all served a specific purpose at first and then turn into yearly revenue to fatten up the government. Nice to see things haven’t changed…
Yup. Here in CA they raised the sales tax to help pay for the Northridge earthquake recovery. Then the police wanted it and they ran ads saying it wouldn't raise taxes. :P
Another part of lighting we don't think about much today is the house itself: the color of your wall, and how smooth it is greatly impacts how much light there is in your house. If you have dark colored walls light would just be absorbed, while a whitewashed wall would reflect better. These considerations greatly affected how houses looked on the inside. With richer people who could afford more light having more intrecate designs on their wall, more furniture standing against it and things like carpets on the wall. Especially poorer people would have white plastered walls, plain. So that the few light sources they had would light up as much as possible of the room. My family is from the seaside and back in the day every time a catch came in many people, especially the very young and very old would be busy cutting up fish, preparing it for preservation. They had to work quick. They would take the fatty insides of the fish and boil out the oil, for use in lamps mostly. Basically the whole village was lit with what came from the sea until i think the 1890's-1910's. After that electricity and gaslamps became more affordable and available.
My Grandma once showed me how the very very poor would create light purely from what came from the sea: a vessel made from Mussel, a wick made from the inner skin of fish, and the fuel the lowest grade of fish oil. Smells strongly, but you had light made from things only from the sea.
Thank you, I never thought about the colors of the walls, I will use that in my historic interpretation in the future since our Mission era building walls are whitewashed.
Yes! Of course the other side of that is that if you had those white walls and are burning the cheapest kind of candles the walls are going to get very visibly dirty very fast. Not a problem for the rich, of course, who are burning the clean candles and have maids anyhow, but just one more darn thing the poor wife has to constantly tend to.
@GrumpyOldTroll we're a medically retired military family of 7 struggling since our home burned down. it started off as her teaching me to can foods we needed. Most of the time it's us canning foods together, but we often bake, help with their store, or help around their home as she's in her 70s.
@GrumpyOldTroll thank you. All of our kids are young so it's been hard. Our friendship has truly been a blessing and the difference in all of us having dinner or just the kids eating.
Never knew how interesting candle history is. Crazy to think nowadays all these little things I’ve taken for granted. We really do owe so much to those who came before us. Kinda cool
Some years ago I attended an evening ball at Colonial Williamsburg. According to the hostess, it was “brilliantly illuminated “. Actually, it was dark as a seance, even with all the candles. With our electric lights, it’s hard to imagine just how dark nights were with just candles and oil lamps. I remember as a child reading books like Cinderella, with illustrations of the brightly-lit ballroom and all the colorful uniforms and ball gowns. No such thing in reality. We couldn’t even make out the fancy gown’s colors, just the sparkle of the paste jewelry. I tried reading by candlelight once and it was really tough to make out the words. I had to have the candle within about 18 inches of the book. It makes you really respect people like Franklin and Lincoln, studying by candlelight, and makes you wonder why their eyes did not fail.
@@kilianortmann9979 These would indeed make the best use of the light that was there, but that light was still meager compared to what we are used to. Of course, it would have been more light than those of that time would normally have at home, so it would have been--to them--"brilliant".
They also wouldn't have had all the light pollution we have now so if there was a full moon and a clear night sky, there would've been a pretty decent amount of natural light coming in as well.
We were talking just a little while ago about J.S. Bach and the enormous amount of music he wrote, all written by hand and with a quill, and he had to do it all during daylight hours in order to see what he was doing. Aside from the creativity, what a logistical task to get all that work done, and for choral music, to get it done in time for his singers to learn and perform it!
My family owned a cabin built in 1890 when I was growing up. All our light came from candles, oil lamps, and kerosene lanterns. We experimented with different candle wicks by drilling holes into slabs of paraffin wax. The wicks with a wire center always worked the best.
I personally, from 1984 to 1993 did not live in a neighbourhood with electrical power. My homework for those nine years were in the kitchen table under candle light. My neighbors used kerosene lamps. My mom would not let one of those into our house because of the smell. Edit: that was in a very poor region in Brazil.
I actually made dipped candles for shiggles one time, had no idea what I was doing but it worked out. Had a big 1x4 or so that I attached the wicks to and could make quite a few at a time. Kinda forgot I ever did that lol, thanks, wonderful video as usual. I always find it fascinating how much intricacy and nuance there is in even the most seemingly simple things when you really try to learn. Nothing is ever as simple or easy as it seems and I think that's a life lesson a lot of people could benefit from greatly.
I never realized how important a single candle could be until last Friday. My power went out around 6 pm, which is dark here in the northeast, right as my oven was heating for dinner. I'm in a wheelchair and was scared of running my dog over or bumping into things. So I crawled on the floor in the darkness carefully to find where my phone was so I could use its flash light. The other flashlights in my house had dead batteries, my head lamp wasn't charged, but I found a singular candle. That thing became by best friend for the next 8 hours until the power came back on. I used it to warm a can of soup and all. The very next day I ordered a lantern and a flashlight that uses batteries I regularly have on hand... and a few more emergency candles.
Glad it worked out for you. Nothing humbles modern man like a power outage. We learned the hard way to be better prepared when we lost power for almost 6 days in an all electric home (no water either).
I was in the scouts, and we had quite a few camps where we weren't allowed most modern comforts (except sleeping bags, clothes, knives, hatchets, and a single tarpaulin), so no compass, no flashlight, no watch, no matches, no tents... (We had many normal camps, but they wanted to give us survival knowledge with minimal tools). We made many types of shelters: snow tombs, igloos, lean-to or tents (with the tarpaulin) and prospector tents. I don't know how the last one are really called elsewhere, it's basically a reinforced tent with the tarpaulin built on a wooden base, with a flapping entrance door and ideally an entrance room where you keep all the wood dry and where the cold gets stopped, with a raised platform where we sleep, they gave us construction wood to do that one and a stove to put inside the main room. It took us the whole summer camp to build (three days), and it was used in the autumn and winter camps, in winter we were sleeping in boxers ON our sleeping bags because it was almost too hot with the stove heating the tent, while it was under -35C outside XD For light we also were given wicks and paraffin (I know, not an old method but the principle is the same) and/or oil canisters to make either candles or oil lamps, but we were not given the moulds nor the lamp itself. So we made the moulds or lamps ourselves with clay we collected, moulded and dried with the fire made from spinning a stick or hitting some pyrite ore and flint we both found near the river... Anyways, way too long story to tell I still have many of these candles, so when I got my apartment, I brought many with me and each time there was a power outage I had candles in each room that I could light to pass through the outage for light and a bit of heat, one lasting two days after the worst snow storm.
Years ago my husband and I bought a house needing renovation. At the last minute the bank refused us our renovation money. For a year we had three working power points and zero lights unless it was a lamp plugged in. I assure you romantic candle lit dinners loose their appeal quite quickly when there is no alternative. That was in Australia but I enjoy these videos as much of our pioneering cooking etc was similar.
My grandparents would tell their grandkids that the reason why wax myrtles were called that was because the pioneers would make candles out of them. Never heard a thing about it until last month when the channel Weird Explorer decided to do an episode on it. During his research he could only find recipes that had a small amount of beeswax added. He decided to make his 100% out of wax myrtle berries. It worked but was quite a pain as the lack of beeswax made it really brittle. But it worked! Not only did it work but it lasted quite awhile, smelled pleasant, and had little to no soot.
I remember making candles with my grandmother as a tiny, tiny kid. She would soak the string from bags of flour or cattle feed in salt brine first. I always wondered why as a kid. Now I'm a chemist and I suspect it's to stiffen the wick, and maybe add a little more brightness from the sodium in the salt, but I admit I'm not really sure.
Candle makers often competed with soap makers for animal fat. Around 1835, that led to Proctor and Gamble, who were married to sisters, to form their company. Their father-in-law told them they stop competing and work together. Thanks, Pop!
Remote Upper Great Lakes here! I live in a region that didn't have electricity until after WWII. I have a copy of the history of the area, and it's a treasure. People worked so hard, (we work hard to live here now, so just imagine!) and they were so resourceful in every imaginable way. Much respect.
I still cannot believe that content of this quality is available for free, and it continually convinces me that I live in the best time of all, so far. Thank you for your work, Jon.
My teacher in second grade taught us how to make dipped candles. I used to have the two candles I made, but lost track of them when I joined the Navy. She also taught us how to make butter in an old fashioned butter churn. Those lessons still hold in my mind.
Here in Alberta, we've been weathering extreme cold over the last few days. That has put enormous pressure on our power grid, resulting in our electrical regulator putting out a notice that we need to reduce consumption. I brought out the candles, and we've been very contentedly spending our evenings, with little modern technology, in candlelight. It brings me back to my childhood at the family cabin, where we didn't have power for many years. Candles for light, wood stove for heat, games, and hot apple cider were the stuff of many of our evenings.
I appreciate the joy in simpler things. However, the idea that your 9 watt led light bulb or 50 watt router is going to crash the net says that your government is failing in its basic responsibility to its citizens. Historically, its been cold in Canada before. Why is there a risk now? Not just Power to the People. Power for the People! Accept nothing less.
As a person that lives in a (very) rural area, night definitely hits different. Frankly I wanted to be there when candles were still being used en masse. I wonder how a city would've looked like just by being lit by candles and oil lamps.
Ask Mrs. O'Leary's cow. 😆 In all seriousness, having lived in an area with occasional power outages and using many different lighting alternatives - there's a reason people switched to electric as soon as they could. It's very moody and pretty, but not very effective.
Very interesting and informative but he left out that the tallow candles needed to be stored in a candle box mounted on a wall- to keep mice and other critters away, lest those labor-intensive candles become a tasty treat.
Even growing up on the farm in the 1980's, you always had candles and a kerosene lantern around for when the power went out. I don't think a year goes by where I don't need to use candles at least once, I still have various ones hidden through the house for when needed. You have to imagine what a shock it was when people switched from candles to light bulbs. I just replaced some old incandescent tri-light bulbs in my house with led ones and it is incredible how much brighter they are. It must have been shocking for people back then to suddenly being able to see tour whole room lit and visible inside of having half of it in the shadows all the time.
growing up in the mountains around the same time we always had candles, oil lamps, kero lanterns, and a kero heater for backups around because if the power went out especially in winter it could be anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days for it to get restored depending on if it was overnight or on a weekend or how deep the snow was. even now i keep emergency candles and battery lanterns around. I heard stories pretty often from my grandmother of when their farm finally got electrified, she was born in 1917 and got to see the whole valley change over time, and had stories of people crowding around the first storefronts to be electrified to marvel at the bright lights and going home to oil lamps and using candle lanterns to find the privy out back. she said the first lightbulbs at home made them feel like millionaires, quite literally the world changed overnight once lightbulbs were in homes.
We still keep kero backups. Even at 32 degrees, a power outage is mostly really inconvenient but possibly life threatening for the impaired. At zero degrees, it can be life threatening for all. Better have a back up plan.
growing up in Greece that was very early electrified for that part of the planet... old house in the late seventies had a wall with kerosene lamps wich they kept for emergencies
Yes, i grew up on a very tiny army base and then in a very small village where if the power went out. It be out for atleast over 24 hours. One of my fondest/weirdest memories is seeing my parents faces in a dark room candles illuminating their tired but trying eyes and faces. Us kids were all quite young during these times and in winter it was pitch black and we were all scared of the dark. My parents tried to make it fun. They took all our mattresses and layed them on the floor in the livingroom and we all had a big "sleepover". My mom read us stories from our favourite books, or made them up, using a candle close to the book while the rest of us fell asleep to her words in the dark. Weirdest blast from the past.
My grandmother used to tell the story that when she was first married, about 1934 her husband's parents lived in Northern Minnesota. They didn't have electricity so they lit with kerosene lamps, but kerosene was expensive so they burned rendered skunk fat. She said the rendering process smelled terrible but the lamps actually smelled pretty good.
It really sucks that I forget about this INCREDIBLE channel until a video is recommended in my feed. I’m changing that starting right now by making sure I get notifications from Townsends! Seriously this channel is such an important historical well of knowledge. I absolutely appreciate the hard work and pure dedication that you all put into running it. Cheers to The Townsends!!
I never take electricity for granted. I think about how it would affect every day, everyday. I give thanks for hot water, medicine, easy transportation, A/C, and easy access to food ALL THE TIME. I think we'd be a lot more content if really understood how good we have it nowadays. I'd wager any king of the past would give up their kingdoms to live in our modern society.
I totally agree! I live in a humble single-wide mobile home and I think to myself, I am actually living better than the vast majority of people throughout human history. I might not have marble and gold and silver, but I have safe lighting, safe food storage, water at my fingertips; I have a vehicle out in my driveway that can run faster than any racehorse ever bred. I don't have to chop firewood, make my own candles. If I want to and have the money I can go to the airport and fly across oceans to places that once took months to travel to. I had a conversation recently with a neighbor who was bemoaning how awful the world has become and how this is a sign of the End Times. I said, really? Things are getting worse? When we are living longer, when we have better nutrition, when we have better sanitation, when most babies born have a pretty decent chance of growing up to become adults, when women don't have to fear dying in childbirth? If you want to believe things are getting worse, you go right ahead. I don't believe it.
Hey man I have to say…I’ve been watching your videos for the past decade now. They’re always great, quality videos that I actually learn from. I just wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve done. Because of you, I’ve gained an incredible amount of knowledge that I’ll never forget. If I could shake your hand I would. Thanks again. For everything.
In the UK, in the early 70's we had power cuts due to industrial action & I remember doing my homework by candlelight, it was very comforting and I have great memories of that time.
My mother told me about this. Government enforcing a 3 day week to deal with miners union protests, they could not power the coal power plants without them.
8:32 in Hawaii as a kid Insat and watched this guy dip candles for almost an hour. The entire marrketplace was within this giant system of ficus trees, which people had built arbors, little rooms, and pathways with the roots... One of the most fascinating things ive ever experienced!
My great Grandmother in the 60s and 70's used terms like "You left a light burning in the kitchen" or "Keep the door to the icebox closed" She grew up using candles or gas for lighting and the icebox was a wooden locker that used delivered Ice blocks to keep food cool. Oh yeah she called automobiles "Machines"
Years ago I had an art studio with a candle maker. He and his wife were great people, and I’ll never forget the smell of the vats of wax, or how interesting it was to watch them work!
One of my favorite, very useful hobbies is candle making. Bee's wax is hands down the best, but as you say expensive. I've made them from everything from deer tallow to store bought ingredients. Most of my wax comes from yard sale finds. Remelted, that wax and cheap 100% cotton twine makes wonderful dipped candles. I live in a rural area with frequent power outages, making candles one of my treasures.
Outstanding video Jon!!! Candles and oil lamps, kerosene lamps etc. just have something about them that makes ot so relaxing when you use them! Great content as always and keep up the good work!!
I remember in early 90s when my village lost electricity due to a storm or there was some kind of power cut. The TV was off, everywhere was so quiet and cosy and my parents were lighting some candles. Such a great time for a kid.
We went to Lincoln's New Salem for their candlelight event this past fall - whole village lit up with candles. It was gorgeous! We stuck around until the end of the night, and as the blacksmith shop closed up they put out the candles one by one - until a single candle burned on their chandelier. It was stunning how much light that 1 single candle put out - lit the whole place up! We live in such convenient times, but it's important to step back and see just how 1 candle could revolutionize your life if it's dark and you need some light. It was also so incredible to see the fireplace hearth that Lincoln once read beside - the actual fireplace. That is wild!
Lighting is certainly something we take for granted now and we generally dont appreciate just how much (quantity, quality, and convenience) light we have! But it is nice to stop and appreciate candle/fire light alone every now and then!
My parents grew up in Mexico without power, so they had to rely on candlelight. I think they mostly made them themselves, as my grandpa had some beehives too. They eventually moved over to kerosene lamps.
A candle actually displays all four phases of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma, which is where the light comes from. Awesome videos, thanks so much!
My bathroom lamp is dead and my ladder is broken so I can’t change the bulb so I have to take a shower in the dark for a few days, I appreciate people who lived before electricity.
I'm south African. They call it loadshedding. Then keep hiking your Bills. Consistently steal more through blatant corruption. Every SOE is bankrupt and they do not want to allow privatisation. They are even looking to start taxing guys who install solar and battery systems. Absolute joke. Man, my disdain is high for politicians is through the roof.
Public lights were not at all common in most places in the period, so you had to bring your own light to go out at night. The upscale resort town of Bath was the first English city to have extensive, constant public lighting, as well as legislation around it.
Amazing to think how dangerous it would have been to go out at night in a larger town, like a port city. Ruffians would have had great freedom. My (late) Aunt Ethel was born in the late 1800's- she was adamant that a woman never go out at night unescorted.
Being a resident of Pakistan, you're very well taught the importance of the light bulbs from the cradle to the grave. One of the greatest misfortunes that this country is unsurprisingly famous for is its insane amount of power outages. Without a given cause or any reason at all, the electric company can shut off your power at any given time of the day. 18 to 24 hour power outages are quite common in here, especially when in the recent years the grid seems to fail for several days in a row. As a kid, we used to use a lot of wax candles to light our rooms during the night hours. I distinctly remember that my grandfather used to buy them in a bulk for each of the family in the house along with groceries, which we had to use throughout the month. For lighting the hallways and the kitchen during these hours however, we instead relied on gas lamps; some glass paneled lamps mounted on the walls connected directly to the house's cooking gas supply. My grandfather and my eldest uncle had those station lamps which you've to fill with some sort of oil for them to work. It's been ages since I've seen any of these. Uninterruptable power supplies and solar panels have essentially made them redundant here. We don't quite have to imagine how it feels like to have no power whatsoever at night :P that's literally every single day here.
This was fascinating. I really had zero idea how much technology went in to a candle. Thank you so much for the gift of your knowledge and this video. 🙏🏼
My power went out for a couple hours yesterday and I thought about life before electricity and what it must have been like. Good time for this video to pop up in my feed.
Candles is still a better light source for emergencies, they have long shelf life, you store them anywhere, and they are ready to go. The candle is still relevant even the old saying about burning the candle at both ends.
You would be surprised to find most people would be incompetent in understanding how to light a fire and keep it in a secured holder away from flammable areas. Thousands of burn victims and house fires still occur every year because of this.
Lifelong Wabash county resident here, thanks for the shoutout! I own two properties, one in Roann and one in North Manchester, both in Wabash county and both are by the covered bridges. If you haven't already, you should do a video about the covered bridges, I really enjoy seeing you highlight the great history of this area. Thank you, Sir!
Would love to see a candle making tutorial for every type and info on which oils are best for oil lamps. Thank you for another high quality video. This channel brings me so much peace 🙏
I've been a custom candle maker for many years now and there is so much you need to know if you want to make even simple candles. Many types of wicks for different applications, many types of waxes, additives, etc. I still love making candles and giving them away for holiday or birthday presents. Really enjoyed this video!
I fashioned a very rudimentary oil lamp from a sheet of aluminium foil and a small rolled-up wad of tissue paper for a wick that burnt canola or sesame oil that I had lying around in the kitchen. (The latter smells great.) Just needed to cut and "advance" the wick on the spout once awhile as it wilted during use.
My family has a cabin in the middle of the woods on a river bank. The cabin doesn't have electricity, so we burn oil lamps and a lot of candles there. Of course we have battery powered lights, but nothing beats the atmosphere of the living flame.
When we returned from a summer vacation visiting our grandparents in Florida, the decorative candles our mom had in a couple of wall sconces and in candle holders on the dining room table were all oddly bent over. Apparently, it had gotten unusually warm at home while we were away. I had a very low tolerance for "weird" when I was young and I was completely creeped out seeing these candles bent all the way over.
We had a power outage recently and it felt pretty good to have a candle and a tea-light ready to go. It was kinda cosy but not a lot of light to do more then basic things.
In the Netherlands, street lighting came in the 1600s, to prevent people from falling in canals and drowning, perhaps the cause of the many drink houses at the time.
For the longest time growing up, my maternal grandparents had a kerosene lamp setup in the bathroom. It hung on the wall in it's own little holder and there was a small mirror behind the lamp attached to the wood holder. I still have that holder but my more modern version of that lamp that runs on liquid paraffin doesn't fit. To light it you would take the glass top off, light the wick, and then put the glass back on...not exactly easy to do unless there was an able bodied adult to do so since it hung at a height that for a kid was out of reach for safety sake but was about the height of my grandfather...the nail it hung on is still in the wall in the bathroom now. It was a good little setup that gave a good bit of light to the small room it was in thanks to the mirror behind it small as it was.
I love candles 🕯️ Our house is full of candles, all kinds , some for the scent and some just for romantic 🥰 atmosphere. Something about candles 🕯️ makes us relax and feel safe and warm . I don’t know is it the light or the warmth it gives us !😊 ❤❤❤
Your video production is so high quality I love it. I have been a fan of your channel for about 10 years now and am glad you continue to enrich my life, thanks Townsends!
Till a few years ago you could still buy tallow candles in my country but they were used to rub on your boots to waterproof them for winter. Very cheap and extremely effective! A little stinky for a few days but you had nice dry warm feet for the whole winter. Sadly I can't find these anymore but also almost impossible to find the leather boots. Everything is synthetic now. I am a city girl and I have hope that in the country regions these kind of products can still be found. My mother grew up on an island without electricity and she tells stories of making and using oil lamps as their main form of lights. Candles were kind of luxurious. I love these little tidbits of history about things we now take for granted...
I love learning about things like this. The ordinary everyday things that were vital to people in the past but which are never talked about are always the most interesting topics for me.
It must be extremely satisfying to make a candle in the manner of the historical era that interests you most. I've made simple oil lamps using just a jar and a metal wire stand to hold the wick (purchased). I used olive oil and though it gave off an odor it was not unpleasant. I saw someone on TH-cam make a candle with I think it was tree sap and some dried plant matter but I forget what. Hey, I would try it if I truly needed it. But I cringe at the thought of using bacon grease.
I was waiting for a mention of or a contrast with the Safety of modern lighting devices compared to the use of flame for illumination. My parents lost their home (where I grew up) to a fire in the recent past, so I admit I'm a little sensitive about this topic.
Fires were a constant risk with candles and oil lamps. Lanterns for candles were favoured as not only did the glass prevent draughts blowing out the candle, but they kept the flame away from curtains and such. Oil lamps with enclosed reservoirs and double glass globes were useful containment, but they had to be put in very stable places to avoid being knocked over, automatically spreading fire. Ironically, the resurgence of candles used for atmosphere and scenting rooms has become a major cause of house fires after all other safety improvements made house fires rare.
When I bought my first house in 2001 in the town of Swansea MA, the town went bankrupt. The town council voted to shut down about half of the street lights in order to save money. But if you had a street light in front of your home, you could pay the electric bill for that light. Lol. For over a year I would fill up my dual fuel Coleman lantern and light it up every night. With a few pulleys, small piece of rope and resolve, I would fill it, light it up and pump it until I could not get any more pressure in the tank. It would last almost all night. My neighbors thought I was nuts. But it worked and I didn’t mind taking the effort to do what needed to get done at the time.
Lighting is definitely something we take for granted. I always think it is important to reflect and be grateful for all the modern inventions that make life so much more convenient. Life could be so much more difficult. and still is for many who don't have power.
I love your cooking videos but I adore these kinds of your videos! Information about just daily things like lights from the 17th and 18th century can be so hard to come by comparative to other time periods I’ve found during my own research. Thank you so much for these informative and fascinating videos!
It's not just the amount of taxes, but what is taxed. Taxing pollution, and other harmful activities can be great for society, as well as taxing oligarchs to protect democracy against corruption. But if you tax the ordinary man in ways that prevents them from working, you will have problems. Taxing labour is easy, but it would be better to tax cigarettes, alcohol, oil and gas and so on. And if you have to tax people directly, you should probably tax wealth rather than income.
Depends on what you mean, for example protectionist laws are what allowed America to build a manufacturing sector and be the top industrial country for 100 years until many of those well-paying jobs were sent abroad to save on labor costs.
@@placeholdername0000 Regressive taxes that hit the poor by exactly the same amount as the wealthy (but thus hurt them more), such as taxing bread or essentials, are the worst. When the government fabricates such taxes in the form of window taxes, candle taxes, food taxes, etc, because the working class are easy targets, it's downright immoral.
@@darthguilder1923 I'm referring to laws that limit who can and cannot make candles for instance. I'm referring to where you can and cannot buy pharmaceuticals for instance. I'm not sure even that the well paying jobs you refer to were the norm given that America's wages in real terms have actually DECREASED since the 1950s.
I remember in the sixties I did the fad of making sand candles where you would pour melted wax into a depression in the sand and hang a wick down from a little stick. When everything hardened you could dig up the candle and it would be sand covered. I guess that was “artsy”.
Thank you so much for all your videos including wonderful 18th century recipes. In France we (used to) call Chandelle the suet candle and Bougie the wax candle. Thank you again from a 18th century enthousiast :))
_Chandelle_ can be traced back to the Latin word _candela_ that referred generally to a light or torch and specifically to a cylinder of either tallow (rendered fat) or wax used for lighting. _Bougie_ has a much shorter history: it dates back only to 1755, by which time the Algerian town of Bugia had developed an important trade in wax and candlemaking that had extended to France. It would be unsurprising to find that a _chandelle de Bougie_ was considered especially effective or fashionable.
Nothing went to waste in the 18th century. The folks that cleaned the globes on the street lamps, they would collect the black soot from the inside. That soot was given to printers so they could mix tung oil with the lamp black for ink. In really old books you can still see traces of the tung oil as a shadow around the printed letters that leaked out a bit into the paper.
Interesting to hear your thoughts on oil lamps. In Britain, oil lamps with whale oil and later paraffin were very important and not just for the poor, very smart oil lamps existed in the smartest of homes. They gave more light and burned far longer. Servants would routinely fill them and clean the glass chimneys
You might enjoy some of these: Public Transportation th-cam.com/video/yUX-m-BsoS0/w-d-xo.html Hospitality to Travelers th-cam.com/video/3cPizm6i15A/w-d-xo.html Boston to New York th-cam.com/video/0QQMzGqdNoI/w-d-xo.html
I grew up in rural PA during the 1950s and 60s. We were not poor by any means but we and our neighbors were always prepared for PECO outages due to blizzards and summer storms. I live in South Florida now and to this day I am prepared for whatever happens because I have a supply of candles for emergencies. My grandmother and mother taught me well. Candlelight is always welcome when the lights go out. well.
My grandfather used to tell a story that when he was a kid (Silesia, 1920s), all they had in their village was naphtha lamps. So one time when he was 6yo, he went to the church at different village, and it was already electrified. His amazement as everything around lighted up was so great that he remembered that moment even until he was in his 90s. So I believe that the difference must have been huge.
Ngl we probably had similar feeling experiences as kids growing up for a few things. I remember as a kid in the 90’s going from software rendering to hardware openGL for the first time, and the massive difference of dial-up internet to Cable Internet. I remember my dad (rip 2022) told me how much better it felt no longer having to wait with a 56k modem for a webpage to load one single image or screen with text for over 5 to 10 minutes and falling asleep waiting around, while with Cable everything loaded in a manner of 5-10 seconds.
Now we freak out if a web page or thing doesn’t load in 2-3 seconds but back then you’d be lucky to get things downloaded before you passed out.
I STILL remember waiting over 20-30 minutes for a single 20.1mb SNES Rom file to download for the Zsnes emulator back in 1998 or 1999 on my dads PC as my friend and I stayed up all night trying to download games so we could try 2 player emulation with only one keyboard, attempting to play an import Gundam fighting game.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story of your Grandfather.
@@autumnhomer9786Agreed it fills my heart ❤
Reminds me of my dad who saw a TV for the first time in the 1960s and kept looking for a projector because all he knew where cinema screens.
Imagine some ''people'' still haven't invented the wheel yet.
Light bulbs and refrigeration really changed human life drastically. I love these episodes that cover a particular topic and how people dealt with it back then.
My great grandmother was asked what was her favorite invention during her lifetime. She said without hesitation "the washing machine!" Before its invention washing clothes by hand was an all day chore, especially since families were so large back then.
@@1TakoyakiStore a women that raised a lot of children was genuinely feared by many when she was angry, because a lot of them would have arms that could strangle a bear. Tons of laundry, dough kneeding, grocery hauling and other very labour intensive tasks made sure of that.
@@rubenskiii It's funny you say that. An ancestor on my mother's mother's side (I'm not too familiar with that side of the family so take this with a grain of salt) grew up on a dairy farm. She had to transport heavy milk containers by hand (sometime in the late 1800's in the Dakotas). Of course this caused her to develop strong arms, so much so that she was embarrased and self conscious about it since it wasn't seen as womanly attributes. 🤣
@@1TakoyakiStoreMy grandmothers in Australia said the best invention was the hot water system. Boiling water for baths, doing dishes, cleaning and washing was ongoing and awful in a hot climate. And yes the next best invention was the washing machine.
There is a theory that it wasn't feminists that allowed married women to work. It was electricity, along with washing machines, vacuum cleaners, electric irons etc.
11:40 Franklin's lantern design is so utterly iconic and everlasting that it exists to this day, albeit with LED lightbulbs in them. Most houses still carry this design as their outside lights. I wonder what he’d think of that. Fascinating
My great-grandparents were born in the 1880s in El Salvador. They didnt get kerosene lamps until the 50s, and never got electricity. The past isn't as long ago as we think!
The war tax on candles not being repealed until long after the war ended reminds me of the telephone tax from the Spanish-American War that did not get repealed for 100 years
The government never wants to give up power. The FBI was also supposed to be temporary, for example.
So was the income tax
Patriot act rings a bell too.
This is basically the same story for most taxes we have. They all served a specific purpose at first and then turn into yearly revenue to fatten up the government. Nice to see things haven’t changed…
Mark 12: 13 - 17 📖
Can we take a minute to appreciate the work that went into his room.
That's a beautiful stage
few things are as permanent as a temporary tax
Or temporary govt. buildings too.
Truest words ever spoken!!!!
Yup. Here in CA they raised the sales tax to help pay for the Northridge earthquake recovery. Then the police wanted it and they ran ads saying it wouldn't raise taxes. :P
@@RocketRay they tax us for everything here.
So true!
Another part of lighting we don't think about much today is the house itself: the color of your wall, and how smooth it is greatly impacts how much light there is in your house. If you have dark colored walls light would just be absorbed, while a whitewashed wall would reflect better. These considerations greatly affected how houses looked on the inside. With richer people who could afford more light having more intrecate designs on their wall, more furniture standing against it and things like carpets on the wall. Especially poorer people would have white plastered walls, plain. So that the few light sources they had would light up as much as possible of the room.
My family is from the seaside and back in the day every time a catch came in many people, especially the very young and very old would be busy cutting up fish, preparing it for preservation. They had to work quick. They would take the fatty insides of the fish and boil out the oil, for use in lamps mostly. Basically the whole village was lit with what came from the sea until i think the 1890's-1910's. After that electricity and gaslamps became more affordable and available.
My Grandma once showed me how the very very poor would create light purely from what came from the sea: a vessel made from Mussel, a wick made from the inner skin of fish, and the fuel the lowest grade of fish oil. Smells strongly, but you had light made from things only from the sea.
Thank you, I never thought about the colors of the walls, I will use that in my historic interpretation in the future since our Mission era building walls are whitewashed.
Yes! Of course the other side of that is that if you had those white walls and are burning the cheapest kind of candles the walls are going to get very visibly dirty very fast. Not a problem for the rich, of course, who are burning the clean candles and have maids anyhow, but just one more darn thing the poor wife has to constantly tend to.
boy I never thought of that before, that is one legit reason to always have white walls.
I've never thought of that before. Now I'll be paying even more attention to the walls of historic homes on future visits!
For almost 2 years, I have spent MANY 18-hour days working with our amish friends. Through them, I have learned just how precious lighting is.
In what capacity were you in such immersion with Amish people?
@GrumpyOldTroll we're a medically retired military family of 7 struggling since our home burned down. it started off as her teaching me to can foods we needed. Most of the time it's us canning foods together, but we often bake, help with their store, or help around their home as she's in her 70s.
@@GrumpyOldTroll we also take them to shop or to appointments as needed.
@@fallenangelwi25 Thanks. Sorry to hear about your home, but it sounds like you've developed a lovely relationship there.
@GrumpyOldTroll thank you. All of our kids are young so it's been hard. Our friendship has truly been a blessing and the difference in all of us having dinner or just the kids eating.
Never knew how interesting candle history is. Crazy to think nowadays all these little things I’ve taken for granted. We really do owe so much to those who came before us. Kinda cool
Some years ago I attended an evening ball at Colonial Williamsburg. According to the hostess, it was “brilliantly illuminated “. Actually, it was dark as a seance, even with all the candles. With our electric lights, it’s hard to imagine just how dark nights were with just candles and oil lamps. I remember as a child reading books like Cinderella, with illustrations of the brightly-lit ballroom and all the colorful uniforms and ball gowns. No such thing in reality. We couldn’t even make out the fancy gown’s colors, just the sparkle of the paste jewelry. I tried reading by candlelight once and it was really tough to make out the words. I had to have the candle within about 18 inches of the book. It makes you really respect people like Franklin and Lincoln, studying by candlelight, and makes you wonder why their eyes did not fail.
I am now utterly disheartened! The Grand Ball in War and Peace was Lords and Ladies tripping each other! In the dark! 😁
A lot of ballrooms had gilding and mirrors and usually white walls to reflect the light as much as possible. Though to say how effective it was.
@@kilianortmann9979 These would indeed make the best use of the light that was there, but that light was still meager compared to what we are used to. Of course, it would have been more light than those of that time would normally have at home, so it would have been--to them--"brilliant".
They also wouldn't have had all the light pollution we have now so if there was a full moon and a clear night sky, there would've been a pretty decent amount of natural light coming in as well.
We were talking just a little while ago about J.S. Bach and the enormous amount of music he wrote, all written by hand and with a quill, and he had to do it all during daylight hours in order to see what he was doing. Aside from the creativity, what a logistical task to get all that work done, and for choral music, to get it done in time for his singers to learn and perform it!
My family owned a cabin built in 1890 when I was growing up. All our light came from candles, oil lamps, and kerosene lanterns. We experimented with different candle wicks by drilling holes into slabs of paraffin wax. The wicks with a wire center always worked the best.
My Mother, who was born in 1934 West Virginia, did her homework by an oil lamp. Enjoyed this video very much.
As a child in the 1950's in Ohio I did my homework by an oil lamp at the kitchen table.
I personally, from 1984 to 1993 did not live in a neighbourhood with electrical power.
My homework for those nine years were in the kitchen table under candle light. My neighbors used kerosene lamps. My mom would not let one of those into our house because of the smell.
Edit: that was in a very poor region in Brazil.
@@filipeorr7821 My mother and her brother did their homework at their kitchen table.
I actually made dipped candles for shiggles one time, had no idea what I was doing but it worked out. Had a big 1x4 or so that I attached the wicks to and could make quite a few at a time. Kinda forgot I ever did that lol, thanks, wonderful video as usual.
I always find it fascinating how much intricacy and nuance there is in even the most seemingly simple things when you really try to learn. Nothing is ever as simple or easy as it seems and I think that's a life lesson a lot of people could benefit from greatly.
I never realized how important a single candle could be until last Friday. My power went out around 6 pm, which is dark here in the northeast, right as my oven was heating for dinner. I'm in a wheelchair and was scared of running my dog over or bumping into things. So I crawled on the floor in the darkness carefully to find where my phone was so I could use its flash light. The other flashlights in my house had dead batteries, my head lamp wasn't charged, but I found a singular candle. That thing became by best friend for the next 8 hours until the power came back on. I used it to warm a can of soup and all. The very next day I ordered a lantern and a flashlight that uses batteries I regularly have on hand... and a few more emergency candles.
Every household should have a package of tea lights for just such an emergency. Light and , if you are careful, even enough heat to survive.
Glad it worked out for you. Nothing humbles modern man like a power outage. We learned the hard way to be better prepared when we lost power for almost 6 days in an all electric home (no water either).
if you need to stock up, dollar stores have those religious candles in glass for a dollar
I was in the scouts, and we had quite a few camps where we weren't allowed most modern comforts (except sleeping bags, clothes, knives, hatchets, and a single tarpaulin), so no compass, no flashlight, no watch, no matches, no tents... (We had many normal camps, but they wanted to give us survival knowledge with minimal tools).
We made many types of shelters: snow tombs, igloos, lean-to or tents (with the tarpaulin) and prospector tents. I don't know how the last one are really called elsewhere, it's basically a reinforced tent with the tarpaulin built on a wooden base, with a flapping entrance door and ideally an entrance room where you keep all the wood dry and where the cold gets stopped, with a raised platform where we sleep, they gave us construction wood to do that one and a stove to put inside the main room. It took us the whole summer camp to build (three days), and it was used in the autumn and winter camps, in winter we were sleeping in boxers ON our sleeping bags because it was almost too hot with the stove heating the tent, while it was under -35C outside XD
For light we also were given wicks and paraffin (I know, not an old method but the principle is the same) and/or oil canisters to make either candles or oil lamps, but we were not given the moulds nor the lamp itself. So we made the moulds or lamps ourselves with clay we collected, moulded and dried with the fire made from spinning a stick or hitting some pyrite ore and flint we both found near the river...
Anyways, way too long story to tell I still have many of these candles, so when I got my apartment, I brought many with me and each time there was a power outage I had candles in each room that I could light to pass through the outage for light and a bit of heat, one lasting two days after the worst snow storm.
Years ago my husband and I bought a house needing renovation. At the last minute the bank refused us our renovation money.
For a year we had three working power points and zero lights unless it was a lamp plugged in. I assure you romantic candle lit dinners loose their appeal quite quickly when there is no alternative.
That was in Australia but I enjoy these videos as much of our pioneering cooking etc was similar.
My grandparents would tell their grandkids that the reason why wax myrtles were called that was because the pioneers would make candles out of them. Never heard a thing about it until last month when the channel Weird Explorer decided to do an episode on it. During his research he could only find recipes that had a small amount of beeswax added. He decided to make his 100% out of wax myrtle berries. It worked but was quite a pain as the lack of beeswax made it really brittle. But it worked! Not only did it work but it lasted quite awhile, smelled pleasant, and had little to no soot.
I remember making candles with my grandmother as a tiny, tiny kid. She would soak the string from bags of flour or cattle feed in salt brine first. I always wondered why as a kid. Now I'm a chemist and I suspect it's to stiffen the wick, and maybe add a little more brightness from the sodium in the salt, but I admit I'm not really sure.
Great vid. Most people don't know that lighting did not significantly change from how it was in antiquity until the mid-19th century
Candle makers often competed with soap makers for animal fat. Around 1835, that led to Proctor and Gamble, who were married to sisters, to form their company. Their father-in-law told them they stop competing and work together. Thanks, Pop!
Remote Upper Great Lakes here! I live in a region that didn't have electricity until after WWII. I have a copy of the history of the area, and it's a treasure. People worked so hard, (we work hard to live here now, so just imagine!) and they were so resourceful in every imaginable way. Much respect.
Fascinating about the way wicks are manufactured so precisely so as to work well, thanks Jon.
Never would have guessed the tension of the braid being a factor for even burning and smoke minimization.
They're also dipped in borax and salt, not sure why.
I still cannot believe that content of this quality is available for free, and it continually convinces me that I live in the best time of all, so far. Thank you for your work, Jon.
You sir are correct. Just the fact that you and I can enjoy this video at different locations and times illustrates your point.
It's not really free. You have to pay your electricity bill, and buy a smart-phone or computer to access the video. Nothing's really free.
@@adrianjohnson7920 Yes, dear. We call this “adulthood.” I’m sorry it’s coming as a shock to you.
@@adrianjohnson7920that's obviously not what the OP meant.
People are dumb
Kudos for mentioning Rush Lights. Possibly used for over thousands of years with little data on the subject.
Modern History TV made an interesting video on rush lights in his attempt to recreate them.
@@XBluDiamondX Yes I had seen it. First time I had ever seen Rush Lights.
My teacher in second grade taught us how to make dipped candles. I used to have the two candles I made, but lost track of them when I joined the Navy. She also taught us how to make butter in an old fashioned butter churn. Those lessons still hold in my mind.
we made sweet cream butter in my 1st grade class.. still to this day I will make the same recipe I learned because it was so delicious.
Dude, same here, though I was too excited and burned my candles once I got home that day. The butter we made was AWESOME.
Here in Alberta, we've been weathering extreme cold over the last few days. That has put enormous pressure on our power grid, resulting in our electrical regulator putting out a notice that we need to reduce consumption. I brought out the candles, and we've been very contentedly spending our evenings, with little modern technology, in candlelight. It brings me back to my childhood at the family cabin, where we didn't have power for many years. Candles for light, wood stove for heat, games, and hot apple cider were the stuff of many of our evenings.
I appreciate the joy in simpler things. However, the idea that your 9 watt led light bulb or 50 watt router is going to crash the net says that your government is failing in its basic responsibility to its citizens. Historically, its been cold in Canada before. Why is there a risk now? Not just Power to the People. Power for the People! Accept nothing less.
As a person that lives in a (very) rural area, night definitely hits different. Frankly I wanted to be there when candles were still being used en masse. I wonder how a city would've looked like just by being lit by candles and oil lamps.
Ask Mrs. O'Leary's cow. 😆 In all seriousness, having lived in an area with occasional power outages and using many different lighting alternatives - there's a reason people switched to electric as soon as they could. It's very moody and pretty, but not very effective.
Power outages are one thing -- I don't know if I'd want to have to make sure to buy enough light! (e.g. running out of candles)
@@FruitMuff1nWhen I lost power from Milton I was glad I was hoarding candles
Black with soot and coal smoke
Very interesting and informative but he left out that the tallow candles needed to be stored in a candle box mounted on a wall- to keep mice and other critters away, lest those labor-intensive candles become a tasty treat.
Even growing up on the farm in the 1980's, you always had candles and a kerosene lantern around for when the power went out. I don't think a year goes by where I don't need to use candles at least once, I still have various ones hidden through the house for when needed.
You have to imagine what a shock it was when people switched from candles to light bulbs. I just replaced some old incandescent tri-light bulbs in my house with led ones and it is incredible how much brighter they are. It must have been shocking for people back then to suddenly being able to see tour whole room lit and visible inside of having half of it in the shadows all the time.
growing up in the mountains around the same time we always had candles, oil lamps, kero lanterns, and a kero heater for backups around because if the power went out especially in winter it could be anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days for it to get restored depending on if it was overnight or on a weekend or how deep the snow was. even now i keep emergency candles and battery lanterns around.
I heard stories pretty often from my grandmother of when their farm finally got electrified, she was born in 1917 and got to see the whole valley change over time, and had stories of people crowding around the first storefronts to be electrified to marvel at the bright lights and going home to oil lamps and using candle lanterns to find the privy out back. she said the first lightbulbs at home made them feel like millionaires, quite literally the world changed overnight once lightbulbs were in homes.
We still keep kero backups. Even at 32 degrees, a power outage is mostly really inconvenient but possibly life threatening for the impaired. At zero degrees, it can be life threatening for all. Better have a back up plan.
growing up in Greece that was very early electrified for that part of the planet... old house in the late seventies had a wall with kerosene lamps wich they kept for emergencies
Yes, i grew up on a very tiny army base and then in a very small village where if the power went out. It be out for atleast over 24 hours. One of my fondest/weirdest memories is seeing my parents faces in a dark room candles illuminating their tired but trying eyes and faces. Us kids were all quite young during these times and in winter it was pitch black and we were all scared of the dark. My parents tried to make it fun. They took all our mattresses and layed them on the floor in the livingroom and we all had a big "sleepover". My mom read us stories from our favourite books, or made them up, using a candle close to the book while the rest of us fell asleep to her words in the dark. Weirdest blast from the past.
@@cracky-patty113 Why not flashlights?
My grandmother used to tell the story that when she was first married, about 1934 her husband's parents lived in Northern Minnesota. They didn't have electricity so they lit with kerosene lamps, but kerosene was expensive so they burned rendered skunk fat. She said the rendering process smelled terrible but the lamps actually smelled pretty good.
It really sucks that I forget about this INCREDIBLE channel until a video is recommended in my feed. I’m changing that starting right now by making sure I get notifications from Townsends! Seriously this channel is such an important historical well of knowledge. I absolutely appreciate the hard work and pure dedication that you all put into running it. Cheers to The Townsends!!
Ditto. I have subscribed 👍
@ 💯❤️👍
I never take electricity for granted. I think about how it would affect every day, everyday. I give thanks for hot water, medicine, easy transportation, A/C, and easy access to food ALL THE TIME. I think we'd be a lot more content if really understood how good we have it nowadays. I'd wager any king of the past would give up their kingdoms to live in our modern society.
I totally agree! I live in a humble single-wide mobile home and I think to myself, I am actually living better than the vast majority of people throughout human history. I might not have marble and gold and silver, but I have safe lighting, safe food storage, water at my fingertips; I have a vehicle out in my driveway that can run faster than any racehorse ever bred. I don't have to chop firewood, make my own candles. If I want to and have the money I can go to the airport and fly across oceans to places that once took months to travel to.
I had a conversation recently with a neighbor who was bemoaning how awful the world has become and how this is a sign of the End Times. I said, really? Things are getting worse? When we are living longer, when we have better nutrition, when we have better sanitation, when most babies born have a pretty decent chance of growing up to become adults, when women don't have to fear dying in childbirth? If you want to believe things are getting worse, you go right ahead. I don't believe it.
It's easy to take for granted, when they don't have to work for it, or learn about it.
That's gonna be changing, very soon, unfortunately.
Hey man I have to say…I’ve been watching your videos for the past decade now. They’re always great, quality videos that I actually learn from. I just wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve done. Because of you, I’ve gained an incredible amount of knowledge that I’ll never forget. If I could shake your hand I would. Thanks again. For everything.
In the UK, in the early 70's we had power cuts due to industrial action & I remember doing my homework by candlelight, it was very comforting and I have great memories of that time.
My mother told me about this. Government enforcing a 3 day week to deal with miners union protests, they could not power the coal power plants without them.
@@cattysplat it was during winter time, when is was properly cold, but the candlelight always made it feel cosy.
8:32 in Hawaii as a kid Insat and watched this guy dip candles for almost an hour. The entire marrketplace was within this giant system of ficus trees, which people had built arbors, little rooms, and pathways with the roots... One of the most fascinating things ive ever experienced!
Nice to see you returning to your lighting and candles roots! I remember the old videos you did on lighting!
My great Grandmother in the 60s and 70's used terms like "You left a light burning in the kitchen" or "Keep the door to the icebox closed" She grew up using candles or gas for lighting and the icebox was a wooden locker that used delivered Ice blocks to keep food cool. Oh yeah she called automobiles "Machines"
Years ago I had an art studio with a candle maker. He and his wife were great people, and I’ll never forget the smell of the vats of wax, or how interesting it was to watch them work!
One of my favorite, very useful hobbies is candle making. Bee's wax is hands down the best, but as you say expensive. I've made them from everything from deer tallow to store bought ingredients. Most of my wax comes from yard sale finds. Remelted, that wax and cheap 100% cotton twine makes wonderful dipped candles. I live in a rural area with frequent power outages, making candles one of my treasures.
Have any recommendations as far as resources to help someone pick up this hobby?
Outstanding video Jon!!! Candles and oil lamps, kerosene lamps etc. just have something about them that makes ot so relaxing when you use them! Great content as always and keep up the good work!!
I remember in early 90s when my village lost electricity due to a storm or there was some kind of power cut. The TV was off, everywhere was so quiet and cosy and my parents were lighting some candles. Such a great time for a kid.
We went to Lincoln's New Salem for their candlelight event this past fall - whole village lit up with candles. It was gorgeous! We stuck around until the end of the night, and as the blacksmith shop closed up they put out the candles one by one - until a single candle burned on their chandelier. It was stunning how much light that 1 single candle put out - lit the whole place up! We live in such convenient times, but it's important to step back and see just how 1 candle could revolutionize your life if it's dark and you need some light. It was also so incredible to see the fireplace hearth that Lincoln once read beside - the actual fireplace. That is wild!
Lighting is certainly something we take for granted now and we generally dont appreciate just how much (quantity, quality, and convenience) light we have!
But it is nice to stop and appreciate candle/fire light alone every now and then!
My parents grew up in Mexico without power, so they had to rely on candlelight. I think they mostly made them themselves, as my grandpa had some beehives too. They eventually moved over to kerosene lamps.
Who would have thought something so simple as a candle would be so complicated. Thank you for your videos.
these videos are so wholesome and cozy and your personality as a presenter is just so inviting.
A candle actually displays all four phases of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma, which is where the light comes from. Awesome videos, thanks so much!
My bathroom lamp is dead and my ladder is broken so I can’t change the bulb so I have to take a shower in the dark for a few days, I appreciate people who lived before electricity.
Living in 3rd world country where power outage are often happen, this is a great alternative!
So you also live in Texas, huh?
California I'm guessing.
I'm south African. They call it loadshedding. Then keep hiking your Bills. Consistently steal more through blatant corruption. Every SOE is bankrupt and they do not want to allow privatisation. They are even looking to start taxing guys who install solar and battery systems. Absolute joke. Man, my disdain is high for politicians is through the roof.
Connecticut?
The country of the 3rd world is the USA.
Public lights were not at all common in most places in the period, so you had to bring your own light to go out at night. The upscale resort town of Bath was the first English city to have extensive, constant public lighting, as well as legislation around it.
Amazing to think how dangerous it would have been to go out at night in a larger town, like a port city. Ruffians would have had great freedom. My (late) Aunt Ethel was born in the late 1800's- she was adamant that a woman never go out at night unescorted.
In fact, it was commonly illegal to go about without a light in the cities and towns, since you were probably up to no good.
Being a resident of Pakistan, you're very well taught the importance of the light bulbs from the cradle to the grave. One of the greatest misfortunes that this country is unsurprisingly famous for is its insane amount of power outages. Without a given cause or any reason at all, the electric company can shut off your power at any given time of the day. 18 to 24 hour power outages are quite common in here, especially when in the recent years the grid seems to fail for several days in a row.
As a kid, we used to use a lot of wax candles to light our rooms during the night hours. I distinctly remember that my grandfather used to buy them in a bulk for each of the family in the house along with groceries, which we had to use throughout the month. For lighting the hallways and the kitchen during these hours however, we instead relied on gas lamps; some glass paneled lamps mounted on the walls connected directly to the house's cooking gas supply. My grandfather and my eldest uncle had those station lamps which you've to fill with some sort of oil for them to work. It's been ages since I've seen any of these. Uninterruptable power supplies and solar panels have essentially made them redundant here. We don't quite have to imagine how it feels like to have no power whatsoever at night :P that's literally every single day here.
This was fascinating. I really had zero idea how much technology went in to a candle. Thank you so much for the gift of your knowledge and this video. 🙏🏼
Dear Squire Townsends,
I love the way you dive in depth on even the most basic of subjects thank you
My power went out for a couple hours yesterday and I thought about life before electricity and what it must have been like. Good time for this video to pop up in my feed.
Candles is still a better light source for emergencies, they have long shelf life, you store them anywhere, and they are ready to go.
The candle is still relevant even the old saying about burning the candle at both ends.
You would be surprised to find most people would be incompetent in understanding how to light a fire and keep it in a secured holder away from flammable areas. Thousands of burn victims and house fires still occur every year because of this.
@@cattysplat that is because their stupid
I don't see how they're better than LED flashlight with an extra supply of batteries. The light is much stronger.
Lifelong Wabash county resident here, thanks for the shoutout! I own two properties, one in Roann and one in North Manchester, both in Wabash county and both are by the covered bridges. If you haven't already, you should do a video about the covered bridges, I really enjoy seeing you highlight the great history of this area. Thank you, Sir!
Would love to see a candle making tutorial for every type and info on which oils are best for oil lamps. Thank you for another high quality video. This channel brings me so much peace 🙏
There are loads of such tutorials on YT.
@@zyxw2000but do they have the voices and vibes of Townsend? 😁
I've been a custom candle maker for many years now and there is so much you need to know if you want to make even simple candles. Many types of wicks for different applications, many types of waxes, additives, etc. I still love making candles and giving them away for holiday or birthday presents. Really enjoyed this video!
This certainly was a very enlightening video. Cheers!
Dear Mr Townsend, I've been watching your videos for some time now, and would like to tell you that I have enjoyed them immeasurably.
I fashioned a very rudimentary oil lamp from a sheet of aluminium foil and a small rolled-up wad of tissue paper for a wick that burnt canola or sesame oil that I had lying around in the kitchen. (The latter smells great.) Just needed to cut and "advance" the wick on the spout once awhile as it wilted during use.
My family has a cabin in the middle of the woods on a river bank. The cabin doesn't have electricity, so we burn oil lamps and a lot of candles there. Of course we have battery powered lights, but nothing beats the atmosphere of the living flame.
When we returned from a summer vacation visiting our grandparents in Florida, the decorative candles our mom had in a couple of wall sconces and in candle holders on the dining room table were all oddly bent over. Apparently, it had gotten unusually warm at home while we were away.
I had a very low tolerance for "weird" when I was young and I was completely creeped out seeing these candles bent all the way over.
This episode was quite “cozy-ness” inducing, on this sub-freezing Southern Indiana Sunday afternoon. Thank you so much.
We had a power outage recently and it felt pretty good to have a candle and a tea-light ready to go. It was kinda cosy but not a lot of light to do more then basic things.
Glad to see that the channel is starting to really grow and reach people, always wished more people knew about Townsends!
We still grew up with mostly just candles here. I still remember the unique scent when a candle goes out.
Arc lighting was the first electric lighting, but it is extremely bright and is now most commonly used in commercial movie projectors.
In the Netherlands, street lighting came in the 1600s, to prevent people from falling in canals and drowning, perhaps the cause of the many drink houses at the time.
For the longest time growing up, my maternal grandparents had a kerosene lamp setup in the bathroom. It hung on the wall in it's own little holder and there was a small mirror behind the lamp attached to the wood holder. I still have that holder but my more modern version of that lamp that runs on liquid paraffin doesn't fit. To light it you would take the glass top off, light the wick, and then put the glass back on...not exactly easy to do unless there was an able bodied adult to do so since it hung at a height that for a kid was out of reach for safety sake but was about the height of my grandfather...the nail it hung on is still in the wall in the bathroom now. It was a good little setup that gave a good bit of light to the small room it was in thanks to the mirror behind it small as it was.
You know it's cold in the tavern when they have all the candles lit❤ I'm actually jealous, it's -40 here
I read somewhere that a candle and a human heat a room about the same amount. 🤔
Where are you?
Northern midwest
@@asahearts1 so if I light a candle it will feel like I'm not alone all the time
@@ravenpineshomestead Northern midwest of what? Canada? Ukraine? Siberia?
I love candles 🕯️
Our house is full of candles, all kinds , some for the scent and some just for romantic 🥰 atmosphere.
Something about candles 🕯️ makes us relax and feel safe and warm . I don’t know is it the light or the warmth it gives us !😊
❤❤❤
This channel should be a required course in the American education system.
That would defeat the purpose of the educational system, which is to keep people in the proverbial dark ;)
That's it, I have to subscribe.
I'm writing a book and your videos give me so much insight, and lift up my mood. Brilliant!
Thank you for your love and passion to teaching about history and historical living. It’s fascinating!
Your video production is so high quality I love it. I have been a fan of your channel for about 10 years now and am glad you continue to enrich my life, thanks Townsends!
Till a few years ago you could still buy tallow candles in my country but they were used to rub on your boots to waterproof them for winter. Very cheap and extremely effective! A little stinky for a few days but you had nice dry warm feet for the whole winter. Sadly I can't find these anymore but also almost impossible to find the leather boots. Everything is synthetic now. I am a city girl and I have hope that in the country regions these kind of products can still be found.
My mother grew up on an island without electricity and she tells stories of making and using oil lamps as their main form of lights. Candles were kind of luxurious.
I love these little tidbits of history about things we now take for granted...
You can buy either mink oil or beeswax in a can to waterproof boots.
I love learning about things like this. The ordinary everyday things that were vital to people in the past but which are never talked about are always the most interesting topics for me.
It must be extremely satisfying to make a candle in the manner of the historical era that interests you most. I've made simple oil lamps using just a jar and a metal wire stand to hold the wick (purchased). I used olive oil and though it gave off an odor it was not unpleasant. I saw someone on TH-cam make a candle with I think it was tree sap and some dried plant matter but I forget what. Hey, I would try it if I truly needed it. But I cringe at the thought of using bacon grease.
This is such a well made video. No extreme overstimulation either! This is the best style of video. Keep it up!
I was waiting for a mention of or a contrast with the Safety of modern lighting devices compared to the use of flame for illumination. My parents lost their home (where I grew up) to a fire in the recent past, so I admit I'm a little sensitive about this topic.
Fires were a constant risk with candles and oil lamps. Lanterns for candles were favoured as not only did the glass prevent draughts blowing out the candle, but they kept the flame away from curtains and such. Oil lamps with enclosed reservoirs and double glass globes were useful containment, but they had to be put in very stable places to avoid being knocked over, automatically spreading fire.
Ironically, the resurgence of candles used for atmosphere and scenting rooms has become a major cause of house fires after all other safety improvements made house fires rare.
When I bought my first house in 2001 in the town of Swansea MA, the town went bankrupt. The town council voted to shut down about half of the street lights in order to save money. But if you had a street light in front of your home, you could pay the electric bill for that light. Lol. For over a year I would fill up my dual fuel Coleman lantern and light it up every night. With a few pulleys, small piece of rope and resolve, I would fill it, light it up and pump it until I could not get any more pressure in the tank. It would last almost all night. My neighbors thought I was nuts. But it worked and I didn’t mind taking the effort to do what needed to get done at the time.
Lighting is definitely something we take for granted. I always think it is important to reflect and be grateful for all the modern inventions that make life so much more convenient. Life could be so much more difficult. and still is for many who don't have power.
I love your cooking videos but I adore these kinds of your videos! Information about just daily things like lights from the 17th and 18th century can be so hard to come by comparative to other time periods I’ve found during my own research. Thank you so much for these informative and fascinating videos!
Protectionist laws and excessive taxation in Britain and America truly worsened the lives of millions of ordinary people, and still do.
It's not just the amount of taxes, but what is taxed. Taxing pollution, and other harmful activities can be great for society, as well as taxing oligarchs to protect democracy against corruption. But if you tax the ordinary man in ways that prevents them from working, you will have problems. Taxing labour is easy, but it would be better to tax cigarettes, alcohol, oil and gas and so on. And if you have to tax people directly, you should probably tax wealth rather than income.
Depends on what you mean, for example protectionist laws are what allowed America to build a manufacturing sector and be the top industrial country for 100 years until many of those well-paying jobs were sent abroad to save on labor costs.
@@placeholdername0000 Regressive taxes that hit the poor by exactly the same amount as the wealthy (but thus hurt them more), such as taxing bread or essentials, are the worst. When the government fabricates such taxes in the form of window taxes, candle taxes, food taxes, etc, because the working class are easy targets, it's downright immoral.
@@darthguilder1923 I'm referring to laws that limit who can and cannot make candles for instance. I'm referring to where you can and cannot buy pharmaceuticals for instance.
I'm not sure even that the well paying jobs you refer to were the norm given that America's wages in real terms have actually DECREASED since the 1950s.
I remember in the sixties I did the fad of making sand candles where you would pour melted wax into a depression in the sand and hang a wick down from a little stick.
When everything hardened you could dig up the candle and it would be sand covered. I guess that was “artsy”.
Oi m8 you got your candle loicense???
Nobody speaks like this.
Shows them a couple barrels instead
Clearly you haven't been to Australia @@SirReginaldBumquistIII
@@leiweiling I have Australian family they have Australian accents, not Oliver twist accents.
@@SirReginaldBumquistIII maybe you mean austrian?
This brings back some bad memories of trying to keep some light at night when I was a kid in Bangladesh.
Got my candles burning non stop, electricity is flickering on and off in this snow!
I grew up with candles as our main light source. Off grid in alaska and Arizona
Awesome video I love this subject! Lighting is so fascinating
I enjoy that you're branching outside of cooking you have a very homely vibe
I recently found your channel and love it. This is my favorite video so far!
As a long time 1700's re- enactor , this is an excellently presented lesson for our visiting pilgrims ( Tourists ) !
Thank you so much for all your videos including wonderful 18th century recipes. In France we (used to) call Chandelle the suet candle and Bougie the wax candle. Thank you again from a 18th century enthousiast :))
Ah 😊 thank you! I often wondered why why have two words for this in French. That makes sense.
I wrote that comment because I was surprised that there was only one word in english !! :))
_Chandelle_ can be traced back to the Latin word _candela_ that referred generally to a light or torch and specifically to a cylinder of either tallow (rendered fat) or wax used for lighting.
_Bougie_ has a much shorter history: it dates back only to 1755, by which time the Algerian town of Bugia had developed an important trade in wax and candlemaking that had extended to France. It would be unsurprising to find that a _chandelle de Bougie_ was considered especially effective or fashionable.
I think this is the best video yet. Love the details and the ambiance, great info without any fluff, well worth the time invested to watch. Thank you!
Nothing went to waste in the 18th century. The folks that cleaned the globes on the street lamps, they would collect the black soot from the inside. That soot was given to printers so they could mix tung oil with the lamp black for ink. In really old books you can still see traces of the tung oil as a shadow around the printed letters that leaked out a bit into the paper.
Interesting to hear your thoughts on oil lamps. In Britain, oil lamps with whale oil and later paraffin were very important and not just for the poor, very smart oil lamps existed in the smartest of homes. They gave more light and burned far longer. Servants would routinely fill them and clean the glass chimneys
Thanks!
Very good video, well done. Could you do a video on the dangers of traveling from town to town. What it was like in a day travel.
You might enjoy some of these:
Public Transportation th-cam.com/video/yUX-m-BsoS0/w-d-xo.html
Hospitality to Travelers th-cam.com/video/3cPizm6i15A/w-d-xo.html
Boston to New York th-cam.com/video/0QQMzGqdNoI/w-d-xo.html
I grew up in rural PA during the 1950s and 60s. We were not poor by any means but we and our neighbors were always prepared for PECO
outages due to blizzards and summer storms. I live in South Florida now and to this day I am prepared for whatever happens because I have a supply of candles for emergencies. My grandmother and mother taught me well. Candlelight is always welcome when the lights go out.
well.
Wonderful and informative video! Quite illuminating one might even say 😁.