Votive candle machines?

Does anyone know what those votive-candle machines are called—those machines in church that light an electric candle?

Someone at my church suggested we get one. We'd rather have real candles, of course, but I think our insurance prohibits it. But I can't find out what they're called.

Exactly. You win the Google prize!

Expensive! I'll look around on Ebay and see if I can get a cheap one.

I googled "electric votive candle stands" and got a couple of promising sites here and here .

They're SO expensive. I mean, at $17,350, if you got $5/day, it'd still take you almost 10 years to pay it off.

>1

I'm sorry? Your church can't have candles because of the insurance?!

Sounds like time to change insurance company.

The only churches I've heard of burning down in recent times were either (a) deliberately set on fire, either by sectarian or anti-Christian mobs, or by parishioners who had a gudge against the clergy, or (b) suffered a fire as a result of an electrical fault (!). I don't think a candle stand is a serious threat.

>7

No, I think it's pretty common. We also can't stand on ladders, etc. You don't get the low rates unless you promise to do such things.

Your insurers would love the Russian Orthodox church just outside old Jerusalem. I was in the congregation one night in Eastertide watching with bated breath as a nun perched at the top of a rickety set of folding steps and lit a large candelabra with a long taper.

Ha. I suspect they self-insure ;)

>7: This prompts me to relate the tale of hanging the boughs around the eves of the sanctuary in the church I grew up in a few years ago. Normally, this was done by a member of the parish who also worked construction and had the gigantic, super-safe extension ladder required for the task. But that year, he wasn't available. So I got to do it, perched upon the church's own relic of an extension ladder.

The problematic point was over the altar (ours is still set back against the wall and upon the a three-step footpace; old-style, it is). Because of the bulk of the altar and the placement of the steps, the only way to set the ladder was at an angle much lower than is supposed to be safe. But it needed to be done. So, with my mother set at the base to keep the ladder from sliding, I slowly ascended above the altar and the crucifix hanging on the wall above it, to attach the evergreen boughs to the hook at the foot of the rafters.

All of a sudden, the foot of the ladder begins to slip outward. I cling to the top for dear life as it slides down the wall, headed for the hard marble altar below. And then the miracle happened: the top of the ladder caught and stopped short upon the cross beam of the crucifix. Quite literally, the Cross saved me! (Unfortunately, the ladder also snapped the fingers off of Christ's left hand; a generous benefactor paid for them to be fixed before Easter.)

10> Great story!! Thanks for sharing it.

Whenever I think of votive candles (the real ones, not the electric variety), I recall a trip to visit relatives in Spain a few years ago. My little great-nephew had just learned about candles on birthday cakes. We were visiting one of those little chapels in the Spanish hills which had banks of votive candles burning seemingly continuously. Whenever we took the little boy anywhere near them, he immediately started blowing them out and singing, "'ppy b'day to you". Cost us a fortune in new votive candles...

> 12

Cost us a fortune in new votive candles...

But so worth it for the cute story, no?

Wonder if the insurance company would be okay with floating candles? (Probably not allowed in baptismal font...) Pond supply companies sell floating flowers for tea lights--they can be beautiful at night, like Thailand's krathongs. My handmade krathongs with construction paper petals often catch on fire (outside, of course), but are beautiful until that happens!

At my current church (new construction), small tapers are lit and placed in a trough of sand with clear plastic sides. I don't think they burn long--candles always seem to be freshly lit in clean sand. I thought they were a modern interpretation of votive candles, but perhaps they were a nod to the insurance company.

#8 -- It's not just Jerusalem (though some of the candles they carry at the church in Jerusalem, especially at Easter, look kind of like a portable campfire compared to what I'm used to!) I'm Eastern Orthodox, and every Orthodox church I've ever been to has had candles -- votive stands like the ones in the links above (only with live flames), thin beeswax tapers in sand trays, big circular brass things that hold dozens of aforementioned beeswax tapers, oil lampadas hanging in front of the icons, sometimes a vigil light that burns continually . . . and that's not to mention the candles on the altar, or the incense that's used liberally in every service, or the candles carried by the faithful for processions on holy days, or . . . you get the picture.

I just can't imagine that insurance companies aren't used to dealing with the concept of candles in churches. As others have said, maybe it's time to look at getting a new insurance carrier? :-) Then again, I've never asked what kind of insurance rates my church pays, or how that would compare to the rates for a church that doesn't use candles in worship.

>15 Talking of incense, I wonder what the insurers would make of the botafumeiro at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela? It's a thurible the size of an oil drum which is suspended from the roof. Using a system of pulleys, it is swung backwards and forwards emitting clouds of smoke. "At the top of the swing, the Botafumeiro reaches heights of 21 meters. It swings in a 65 meter arc... The maximum angle achieved is about 82°" (Wikipedia). I've seen it in action - an impressive beast.

Worship can be hazardous!

>16
I saw a video on YouTube of the Pope at Santiago, and couldn't help wondering what would happen if the Pope got in the way of the thurible.

> 16 Incense gives me headaches, so I was glad to find youtube video of botafumeiro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QFd_55El1I . (See monk catch it at the end!)

Tim's church should look up that cathedral's insurer!

ETA: Here's the video with the Pope that MyopicBookworm mentioned: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr2vZ6WmHSw&feature=endscreen&NR=1. Yikes!

He's looking a bit nervous in that video. I sure hope they check that rope regularly.

(Hmm, that could make a good murder weapon. A grander version of the one in Busman's Honeymoon!)

I recall that the bishop's chair was moved to a safer place before the botafumeiro was set in motion!

There is company that makes Electronic Votive candles that are "CUSTOM" made for the your church.... I have seen their product and they are beautiful!!! http://www.shrinedesign.com a friend of mine has them at their church. Good luck and by the way they are made REAL WAX CANDLES!!! email - Info@WorldsFinestCandleStands.com -
(877) 642-7474