Candles and wishes. Etymology and traditions.
September 4, 2009
Have you ever wonder about the meaning of candles in birthday cakes? I wondered about the etymological meaning of candle and because of that I have discovered the history of Birthday candles. I am going to start with the origins of the word “Candle”.
The Old English word Candle, used in church, is a borrowing of the Latin word Candela, that means ”a light, a torch”, from the Latin verb Candere (To shine); from Proto-Indo-European base *kand- “to glow (to shine, to shoot out light). Candlemass, Old English candelmæsse, is the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary (Feb. 2),celebrated with many candles, corresponding to Celtic pagan Imbolc.
It is said that the custom of placing candles on a birthday cake was started by early Greeks who used to place candles on the cake that they offered to Artemis – the Goddess of Moon, marriage, and childbirth- and for the celebration of her birth, special cakes were made with the shape of the moon and lit candles on top, glowing like the moon.
In 18th century, Germans, who perfected themselves in the art of candle-making, placed candles on the cake but for religious reasons. They used to place a big candle in the centre of the cake to represent ‘light of life’. The candle is marked with lines and numbers, usually twelve, which would be burned every year.
Scholars also say that the custom of placing candles had its origin in religion, people believed that God lived in the sky. They thought that lit candle helped to send signals and prayers to the god so that they could be answered more effectively.When a person makes a wish while blowing out the lit candle a signal or message is received by God and the prayers would be answered. It is said that if the person is able to blow out all candles in one breath it signifies that the wish would be answered and the person would enjoy good luck in coming year.
So…don’t forget it! make a wish, or two while you are blowing out the candles of your birthday cake! I will do it soon 
How did Britain change when the Romans invaded Britain? Why did the Romans come to Britain? Which roman emperor conquered Britain? These and other questions are going to be answered in this topic.
Firstly, before the Romans, we must know that the formation of Britain dates back to 8000 B.C. Shortly after 1200 B.C. a culture reached the British Isles, they became known around the middle of the fifth century B.C. This first people in England are the Celts, whose culture and language still survive in many forms today. I will write another post just for Celtic people, their culture, religion, superstitions,… They introduced not only their language, but also they religion and coinage in Britain.
The beginning of the Roman Conquest was in 55 B.C. with Julio Caesar’s invasions after having completed the conquest of Gaul. That expedition was not successful and he tried again the following year, but after a few encounters with the Celts, the Romans did not attempt to invade Britain for nearly a hundred years. It was in 43 A.D. that the Emperor Claudius decided to undertake the actual conquest of the island.
The reason which led the Romans to undertake the conquest of Britannia was the necessity to control trade across the Channel to crush rebellions in the Gaul and Britain. The Celtic language and laws were to be replaced by the Roman ones, and Britain was separated from the continent more than ever before, not only because of the Channel, but also because of strong cultural differences.
But, what happened during those one hundred years after Julio Caesar left Britain for the last time? The answer is a series of events that prepared the ground for the Romanisation. This was a slow process which officially began in 43 A.D. and ended in 409 A.D.
As I said before, the Emperor Claudius crossed the Channel to conquer Britain; the Romans began constructing a system of military roads, founded Londinium and built a crossing over the Thames. By 60 A.D. the frontier had been pushed further and more tribes had been taken under Roman protection. But it was not easy for Romans, there were a series of civil wars and it was a political chaos. Walls were destroyed and the Romans were again forced to withdraw their forces after a short period. It was the beginning of the end of Roman Britain. About the year 449 A.D., the Germanic tribes invaded and settled in Britain. These Germanic people (Anglos, Saxons and Jutes) contributed to destroy the Roman Empire in Britain.
It must be added that the impact of Romanisation was to be noticed all over Britain at all levels, that is, social, economic, political, personal, cultural and educational, among others. However, the biggest and most important impact, as far as I am concerned, of the Romanisation in Britain was its influence on the English Language.
The adoption of new habits of life implied, as I have said above, a change in society, religion, customs, and foods and especially in Language too. Latin, being the language of the Roman Empire, had already influenced the language of the earlier inhabitants of the island, not only because of the Romanisation, but also because in the Middle Ages Latin was considered as the Language of cultural transmission and a high cultivated level, therefore Latin was the language of the upper class and the language of Christianity.
In the medieval period, much of this borrowing occurred through ecclesiastical usage established by Saint Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century, or indirectly after the Norman Conquest, through the Anglo-Norman language.
As examples of Latin borrowings we have some English adjectives such as aqua (Latin), means water, and the English derivative is aquatic; magister (Latin) means teacher and the English derivate is magistrate; Strata (Latin ) means street, butter is from Latin buttirum, Latin word cista means chest; Latin word cristallum means crystal; Latin word papirus means paper.
After the Norman Conquest in 1066 English was replaced by French as the official language for 300 years and French was the language of upper class and English was the language of low class. Therefore, most of French words that passed to English were aristocratic, for instance, minister, chancellor, Duke, court, ,..
Later, in the 16th and 17th century, the invention of the printing press brought with it an influence on all the vernacular languages of Europe, and we can see that English slowly won recognition as a language of serious thought.
In short, the process of Romanisation controlled Britain in every aspect of culture and society, and still does in our present day.
Starting out
June 17, 2009
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it ‘and what is the use of a book’ though Alice, ‘without pictures or conversations? ‘.
That is what I really want to show you with this blog, my first blog. Books without pictures or conversations are also books.
It is only expecting to be a blog where I am going to publish my notes or part of them in order to share with you. You will be able to compare English themes with Spanish ones that you can find in Mani’s blog. Our purspose is to compare Spanish Literature, Grammar, Culture,… with the English one.
Do you want to share your pictures or conversations about next topics? Leave your comments and participe.
