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What do you light on fire most often? |
Oils |
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4% |
[ 1 ] |
Incence |
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22% |
[ 5 ] |
Candles |
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63% |
[ 14 ] |
Paper and other trinkets |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
Something else all together |
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9% |
[ 2 ] |
I don't light things on fire. |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
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Total Votes : 22 |
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:22 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:29 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:50 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:55 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:05 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:09 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:23 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:49 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:57 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 12:31 pm
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 12:33 pm
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 12:57 pm
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Candles and incense and paper mostly. My family also has mini-bonfires at just about every holiday (by mini, I mean we put stuff in the wheelbarrow and light it on fire). I like fire a lot. For me it has less religious/spiritual meaning and more cultural and personal meaning.
In New Mexico, fire can be extremely dangerous because it's so dry here and can burn through a lot of space really quickly. Because of that, there are areas that are burned down seasonally by the Game and Fish/Wildlife department. But fire also has an important role, particularly cooking. Every fall, there is chile roasting everywhere and you can see the the smoke and smell it everywhere. The actual roasting occurs at every store that sells chile and there is a fire pit (though now there are propane fires) with a cylinder that has holes all over it and you put the bag of chile in (usually between 10-30 pounds) and spin it over the fire. I don't know how I can explain it's prevailing importance, but it's there. If people come over to your house after September and you don't have a bag of roasted chiles, people look at you funny. But anyway, I digress.
For personal meaning, I always liked burning candles and incense. I like the way they smell and how they look. Now, I use candle-burning as a way to focus and meditate. I use incense mostly because it smells good, but I have used it to focus and enter a hypnotic state. Nothing really fantastic of life changing ever happened, but it helps me deal with stuff and sleep better. Though I'm sure if I spent enough time doing it I could experience something pretty cool.
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 1:25 pm
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TeaDidikai Gho the Girl Candles. Here's a question. My friend who practices Santeria said that if the glass holder of a candle breaks, the blessings in the candle leak out. Is this so? Can't speak to their understanding of their tradition. What I can say is that in the common uses of novenas, the breaking of glass isn't considered "good". You'd have to look at the context of the intent of the novena or vigil candle. It broke during travel. It was completely accidental, I even cushioned it for travel and it still managed to break despite all my attempts to prevent it.
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 1:44 pm
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 2:40 pm
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When I'm practicing the Hindu faith, we use specialized candles called "diyas", on Diwali, which is our major festival of light and the Hindu New Years. It follows the lunar calendar, so it's somewhere between October and November. They're miniature candles of just the wick and some oil in a small shallow container.
We use diyas the rest of the year, as it is important for general practices, but you see candles everywhere on Diwali.
And of course, fire is seen as purification. Holi, the spring festival, uses fire as purification. The story goes, the fire god Agni gave one of his devotees immunity to fire. However, she became corrupt and evil. Her brother was an evil ruler who forbade the worship of the Hindu gods after he gained an immense power from them. His nephew, Prahalad, was one of the few people who still actively believed in the gods. His uncle tried to kill him by making him stand in the fire with his aunt. Instead, Agni gave the immunity to Prahalad instead of the aunt, killing her instead.
And of course, fireworks.
If you ever want to experience the sounds of a warzone without getting hurt, go to India during Diwali. It's an experience. Two weeks of non-stop fireworks in the largest cities. xd
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