Light RItuals

[debka_notion]

I was reading elsewhere about a light ritual, one of the gizillions of ritual behaviors out there that involves chandles. Judaism is particularly fond of candles, even if we don't do much (or, specifically, we don't do anything) with them once their lit. This was a Christian Advent and Christmas ritual, and I'm pretty sure that there are plenty of other religions that use candles- but for moment, I'm too lazy to go do research. But I was just thinking that in these cases, people view the candles as something peaceful, as light in the darkness, etc. But they're fire, and fire is inherently also dangerous. (Reminds me of the Shababt over the summer in which my grandma and her boyfriend kept running back home to move the candles around so they wouldn't burn the house down while we were at shul Friday night.) And yet we do not use them in that instance: no one that I've met looks at candles as says "these are a wonderful dangerous thing that we have tamed into this form", or anything of the sort. And yet the idea of using an electric light source for the purposes of candles is not acceptable, feels wrong... It's as if there's something about the danger that we know about and carefully try to avoid, that makes the final use of the candles More meaningful and More calm. Maybe there's something about danger that is not actually danger that makes the use of candles more potent. It is a statement of invested effort as well as simply ritual practice.

Comments

[tovah623.livejournal.com]

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Ooh, neat. You don't happen to remember what sorts, do you?

[ryuutchi.livejournal.com]

>.> You... posted something Jewish about the reason Loki has been haunting my brain for about a week. O.o D00d.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Explain the connection?

[ryuutchi.livejournal.com]

Loki is, at the most basic, fundamental level, a fire god. The reason he evolved into the God of Mischief is because of the duality of fire-- if you hold fire too close you'll get burned but, especially in the north, if you eschew it completely you'll die. Thus he became a god who was not worshipped, but respected-- he's absolutely necessary on a fundamental level in the same way a forest fire is necessary to get rid of deadwood, but he causes cataclysmic changes that you might not be ready for, and are not generally terribly pleasant.

So your post about the necessity in ritual of using a potentially harmful flame in order to ritualize certain makes for an interesting connection. Or I could just not have gotten enough sleep. It's entirely possible.

[thevortex.livejournal.com]

Remind me to show you a paper on kedusha that partly discusses fire.

One of the fascinating things about fire is that it is visibly tamed energy...
(Time constraints preclude further explanation at the moment.)

Huzzah!

The Vortex

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

I actually do look at candles and think that, among other things. But I may be unusual in that, I don't know.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Not only is fire dangerous, but it's difficult. Lighting a fire, in Judaism, is work. By lighting those candles, we put some effort into marking a moment as sacred.