Yellow candle: meaning, traditions, natural beeswax and safe use

Dyed yellow or natural yellow?

The yellow of a candle can have two very different origins. It may be a dye added to a white wax (paraffin, soy, rapeseed), or the natural colour of beeswax, naturally pale yellow to golden brown depending on the hive and the season, and which smells of honey. In the second case, the candle contains no dye. This is useful to know: a cream-yellow candle with a honey scent is probably beeswax; a very bright lemon-yellow candle is dyed.

Pale yellows need little dye and rarely cause problems when burning.

Traditional symbolism: a two-sided colour

Yellow is the colour of the sun, of wheat and lemons: light, abundance, joy. In China, it evokes happiness, and for a long time it was associated with the emperor. In India, yellow is the colour of knowledge and peace, and appears in the clothing of Krishna and in wedding rites (turmeric). In many European countries, however, yellow has a poor reputation: it is linked with jealousy in Germany and Russia, with cowardice in English, and in French one speaks of “rire jaune” (a forced, bitter laugh). In medieval Europe, it was used to mark certain categories of people in a stigmatising way.

This ambivalence shows how much the symbolism of colours depends on time and place.

In rites

There is no “yellow” colour in the Roman Catholic liturgy; gold, which comes close, may replace white, red and green on major feasts (see the gold candle). Beeswax, for its part, has been the church wax par excellence: for centuries liturgical candles were made of beeswax, a costly but clean and fragrant material, in contrast with the tallow of ordinary candles. In India, the yellow of saffron and turmeric accompanies many ceremonies.

Contemporary practice and correspondences

In modern esoteric tables, yellow is linked to intellect, mental clarity, joy and self-confidence. The solar plexus chakra (manipura) is associated with yellow in Western systems. Authors do not agree on the element (air for some, fire for others) or on the planet (Sun or Mercury).

These are conventions of interpretation, not measured facts. A yellow candle on a desk can at most make a break more pleasant.

How to use it

• Breakfast and kitchen: a soft, cheerful light for morning meals.
• Desk or workshop: a marker for the start of a work session, with the candle watched and kept away from papers.
• Spring or summer celebrations: a table, a terrace, Saint John's Day (Midsummer).
• Gift: a jar of beeswax, with its natural honey scent, is simple to give.

Choosing and using safely

• Read the label: “beeswax” with no other mention, or “beeswax and paraffin”: this changes the price and the way it burns. Pure beeswax burns slowly and gives off a honey smell.
• A whitish bloom on beeswax (“wax bloom”) is normal; it disappears when a soft cloth is passed over it.
• Heat and summer: beeswax tolerates heat; very soft plant waxes soften in a car or in the sun. Store them in a cool place.
• General rules: constant supervision, stable base, wick trimmed to about 6 mm, out of reach of children and animals, stop at about 1 cm of wax.

See also the overview guide to candle colours.

Frequently asked questions

Also read

The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Guide to candle colors.