I said, this year I ordered some Make your own Advent Candles and Bartholomew’s Passage for our Christmas Advent activities. I have to say that these candles didn’t come with any instructions, so I thought I’d post my pictures, it was really quite easy.

Click here to download Printable Advent Ornaments

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Supplies:

  • 4 sheets of 12×12 beeswax
  • prepared wick
  • blow dryer

Step 1: Lay your sheet of beeswax out onto a clean surface. Cut wick so that at least 1/4” sticks out the top of the sheet, then gently press wick into edge of sheet of beeswax. If you wax is cold and not bending easily, heat with blow dryer just a tad until softer. DO NOT MELT WAX!

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Step 2: Gently but tightly roll first layer of wax around wick. Make sure wick is tight inside wax.

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Step 3: Continue rolling until you reach the end of the sheet of beeswax

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Step 4: Gently press edge of sheet into candle to secure.

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Step 5: Repeat for remaining advent candles:

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Step 6: Trim excess wick to about 1/4 inch.

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Step 7: Get out Bartholomew’s Passage (or whatever you’re reading), light your newly made candles and begin your advent journey!

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What do the candles mean?

The First Candle (The Candle of Prophecy/Hope)
  • Meaning: The first candle is sometimes called the candle of prophecy because it symbolizes the promises the prophets delivered as messages from God; promises that foretold Christ’s birth. Others consider the candle to be a symbol of the hope we have in Christ and so it is called the Hope candle.
  • Color: Purple
  • Theme: Hope
  • Light: First Sunday in Advent
The Second Candle (The Candle of the Way)
    • Meaning: The second candle shows that Christ is the Way. Christians are lost in sin and Christ is the Light sent into the world to show them the way out of darkness.
    • Color: Purple
    • Theme: Love
    • Light: Second Sunday in Advent

The Third Candle (The Candle of Joy)
    • Meaning: The third candle indicates that the only lasting Joy to be found in life on earth is through Christ. All other joy is fleeting and does not last.
    • Color: Purple or pink
    • Theme: Joy
    • Light: Third Sunday in Advent

The Fourth Candle (The Candle of Peace)
  • Meaning: The fourth candle reminds that Jesus comes to bring Peace to both the world and to people’s hearts. Without Christ there is no peace in this world.
  • Color: Purple
  • Theme: Peace
  • Light: Fourth Sunday in Advent

Optional: Fifth candle

  • Meaning: The fifth candle represents Christ himself who is born to save people from their sins. It is a celebration of the fulfillment of prophecy as represented in Christ’s birth and hope in the final fulfillment when Christ comes again and Christians join him.
  • Color: White
  • Theme: Christ
  • Light: Christmas Day

Read more on the meaning of Advent Candles at Suite101

Click here for more Advent Activity Ideas!

7 Comments

  1. We used to make these as a kid but tapered. You take the square sheet and on the right side measure 1inch down. Take a ruler and line up the top left corner and the 1 inch spot. Press the ruler down to cut the wax (or cut with scissors). Then roll the wick in from the left side to make a tapered candle. You can play around with the amount of taper you prefer. Try cutting the beeswax in half diagonally and make 2 matching candles on 1 wick (on either end) to hang over a hook somewhere.

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