CANDLEMAKING WORKSHOP

In the Monastery of Agia Moni, Kythera, a centre of meditation and cultural heritage, in a prominent location overlooking the Myrtoan Sea, there is a candlemaking workshop. Father Giorgis Adikimenakis, a worthy and romantic guardian of tradition, still insists today on making candles in the traditional way and supplying the sacred temples of Kythera. His appreciation for natural beeswax is more than obvious. As he emphasises: "The difference between beeswax and paraffin is that when a paraffin candle burns, the melting causes the candle to distort, become unstable and fall over, while natural beeswax melts vertically thus leaving the candle even".

Using a makeshift yarn spinner, Father Giorgis proudly winded cotton thread on metal frames and weaved the wicks. He had previously melted the beeswax provided by local beekeepers in a tank. The melted and filtered wax was cast into a mould and took the shape of a cylindrical mass of wax, known as 'tipari', which is the raw material. He placed the woven frames in a makeshift wax dipping machine with pulleys and the tipari in a cauldron (vat) where the wax melted and remained liquid during our work. The machine then rotated like a mill and immersed (dipped) the frames in the vat with the melted wax. The wax quickly solidified on the cotton threads. The machine dipped the frames in the melted wax several times, until the waxes had the desired thickness. With this manual method, Father Giorgis has the ability to manufacture 1500 candles within an hour!

According to Father Giorgis: "The beeswax of Kythera was superior to beeswax from other regions and was in great demand, as it was considered purer." The concept of the supreme purity of Kytherian beeswax in times when nature was virgin and unpolluted everywhere should not be interpreted in environmental terms, but rather in terms of holiness and religious faith. There were thousands of beehives on Kythera and from them they extracted the internationally famous and sought-after Kytherian honey. Furthermore, because the wax is produced by virgin bees, the beehives were considered sacred, as protected by Virgin Mary and the wax was intended for pilgrimages as an offering to the Virgin Mary. The church was rebuilt on the occasion of the discovery of an icon of Virgin Mary by a shepherd in 1767 at this location with the inscription "The only hope of all" and is dedicated to Holy Mary.