Fire & Light

 

In the northern hemisphere where the days are short, dark and cold during the winter months, daily warmth indoors, and being able to build and maintain a domestic fire was an important housekeeping skill in the days before electricity. Fire and light are as necessary today as they were in years gone by. However making both light and fire in times passed was much more onerous, an art passed on from one generation to another. As a consequence a whole industry, terminology and paraphernalia accompanied the ritual of lighting the fire and making light. Wax jacks, chamber sticks, taper sticks, snuffers and trays, trivets, footmen, sadirons, fenders and firedogs were all items in everyday use that our ancestors took for granted.