Candle Making/Menawati of Goa

Candles are used in Goa at Christian rituals, at rites of passage – baptisms and weddings – and festive occasions in Goa – across Churches and at home candles are lit and used. Menawati or candle making is a traditional craft. Made by pouring molten wax (earlier beeswax collected in the jungles) into moulds in which there is a cotton wick, the other process followed is by pouring molten wax down a wick. White candles and arrange of other color candles are made using chemical color additives. Candles are made by local people across Goa but mainly in the North in Divar Island and Calangute.