Origin of the Unity Candle
Assuming you've been to a wedding in the recent past, it is likely you've witnessed the time honored tradition of the lighting of the unity candle. However, how old is this "tradition" and where did it come from? Has it been handed down from the days of the Renaissance? Or at least from before Edison gave us the electric light bulb? Hardly. It's origins can only be traced back 30 to 40 years ago. It is unclear how the practice started, but according to wikipedia.org, it was a TV soap opera that brought it into mainstream popularity and catapulted it into our wedding routines. It has become so common that most couples even believe it's "supposed" to be a part of the ceremony. I guess our culture has united around this new tradition :)
posted by William Welbes at
11:24 PM
1 Comments:
My wife and I believe we created this ceremony in May 1969 in response to a challenge from the officiating minister to be creative. We used only two candles and merged their flames. We had never heard of such a ceremony before, but began seeing it at other weddings afterward, starting with people who had been at ours. For more details see http://www.chattaway.com/unitycandle/
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