A Candle In Every Window in NEPA - What is the signicance? (credit, home)

[Summering]

Now I wish I'd of taken that picture of one of the candle homes.......I'm forgetting where the last one I saw was. The one on the way to the old flea market. That home had only a couple in the windows....but, I would look for them each time. Its that cozy, welcoming feeling.

[Tbh711]

Pennsylvania was settled by the Pennsylvania Dutch which actually is not the Dutch at all but rather the Deutsch which means German!!! So Pennsylvania was settled by the Germans not the Dutch. Deutsch got botched with the English language and turned into Dutch!

Well when the Pennsylvania Deutsch settled Pennsylvania if your home was an area of rest for weary travelers you would put candles in the Windows at night and let them burn. It was a sign of hospitalty. Today the traditional continues across Pennsylvania from 300 years ago in the form of electric candles but today they are for decorative reasons, I don't Think they would if stranger knocked on there door at 11pm looking for rest...LOL.

We have seen the candles in Windows at the beaches in the Carolinas and also Florida and sure enough the cars in the driveways are from Pennsylvania.

So you can thank the Colonial German settlers for the candles in the Windows. I suppose you could say they were like the first Porch Lights in America!!! Or the first Motel 8 "We Will Leave The Light On For You"! Was their slogan for many years. This all stems back to the candles in the Windows.

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by Tbh711

Pennsylvania was settled by the Pennsylvania Dutch which actually is not the Dutch at all but rather the Deutsch which means German!!! So Pennsylvania was settled by the Germans not the Dutch. Deutsch got botched with the English language and turned into Dutch!

Well when the Pennsylvania Deutsch settled Pennsylvania if your home was an area of rest for weary travelers you would put candles in the Windows at night and let them burn. It was a sign of hospitalty. Today the traditional continues across Pennsylvania from 300 years ago in the form of electric candles but today they are for decorative reasons, I don't Think they would if stranger knocked on there door at 11pm looking for rest...LOL.

We have seen the candles in Windows at the beaches in the Carolinas and also Florida and sure enough the cars in the driveways are from Pennsylvania.

So you can thank the Colonial German settlers for the candles in the Windows. I suppose you could say they were like the first Porch Lights in America!!! Or the first Motel 8 "We Will Leave The Light On For You"! Was their slogan for many years. This all stems back to the candles in the Windows.

The Pennsylvania Dutch are not strictly German. They were German speaking individuals that settled in PA. Some of my ancestors were Swiss "Pennsylvania Dutch".

It's not uncommon to see candles in the windows of Amish homes at night.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by Tbh711

Pennsylvania was settled by the Pennsylvania Dutch which actually is not the Dutch at all but rather the Deutsch which means German!!! So Pennsylvania was settled by the Germans not the Dutch. Deutsch got botched with the English language and turned into Dutch!

Well when the Pennsylvania Deutsch settled Pennsylvania if your home was an area of rest for weary travelers you would put candles in the Windows at night and let them burn. It was a sign of hospitalty. Today the traditional continues across Pennsylvania from 300 years ago in the form of electric candles but today they are for decorative reasons, I don't Think they would if stranger knocked on there door at 11pm looking for rest...LOL.

We have seen the candles in Windows at the beaches in the Carolinas and also Florida and sure enough the cars in the driveways are from Pennsylvania.

So you can thank the Colonial German settlers for the candles in the Windows. I suppose you could say they were like the first Porch Lights in America!!! Or the first Motel 8 "We Will Leave The Light On For You"! Was their slogan for many years. This all stems back to the candles in the Windows.

I grew up in Pennsylvania. I always liked "We will leave the light on for you." I'm sure many others did, too.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

The Pennsylvania Dutch are not strictly German. They were German speaking individuals that settled in PA. Some of my ancestors were Swiss "Pennsylvania Dutch".

It's not uncommon to see candles in the windows of Amish homes at night.

The Amish resist the use of electricity; that is why you associate candles with the Amish. In recent years their reluctance to build modern sewage systems, like sand mounds with electric pumps, has gotten them into problems with local zoning boards.

I think there is no one shoe fits all. In some Amish areas I believe they can use propane, but not electricity - however; I really don't know.

[mr.magoo]

I have a 1920's Tudor Revival ..I Only used to put candles in the windows starting on my daughters birthday Dec 4 th and kept them lit 'til Three Kings Day in my wife's culture el dia de los Reyes.

After my parents passed away, and we had an Estate Sale, I chose to keep the box of heavy brass bottomed stands with ceramic candlesticks.

they were from the 1940s and languished in the attic til Sept. 2000.
I cleaned and rewired all 15 of them.

They looked real nice in the windows, especially in the 3 leaded glass windows..they lent themselves to a cold winter night, especially when there was snow...

I tried keeping them up, and lit one year, but..

My house faces the Southwest, lots of sun, and the magic feel and ambiance was lost when my favorite Spring, came along.

I think candles lit all year look nice on particular houses..mine isn't on of them.

I had restored a 1865 Farmhouse prior to my present home...it was a poor mans working farm ..Some on this site have seen pics of this house...right Gerania? :-)

no frills, so Christmas decorations consisted of a electric candle in every window, ( wish I would have remembered the candles in my parents attic).... a spray of 2 types of holly, evergreens and pine cones tied together with red knitting yarn and hung from hooks on either side of the window jams.... 14 windows, 3 doors...lotsa green to cut..plus I made 3 grave blankets..denuded some acreage around East Windsor of their greenery to be sure.��
Jeez, how I prattle on...anyway..we were discussing candles right?��

[Gerania]

Candles? My mother used to put a menorah in the front window during Hanukkah--there are so many ways to spell that. "Mommy, why do we have a menorah in the window? We're Catholic." She said it was showing respect for our many Jewish neighbors. I wonder how they felt about that.

I, we, once rented in a colonial-ish development. Williamsburg blue and sage green shutters. Just the right street names. There were a lot of candles in windows there. Lots of fresh greens hanging on doors in December. The people were real, though, and I made friends. Really. We kept in touch for years.

This makes me want to call Regina and ask how Calvin junior is doing. He was the cutest, brightest little kid you could ever meet. Oh, they were the only black family in the neighborhood. I couldn't do that.

I remember the pictures magoo. It is, was, a beauty! Icing, but I loved the shutters. And then there was the barn.

[mr.magoo]

thanks Miz G..loved that barn...I love all old barns..but as Fisheye noted in a post awhile back; Barns have out -lived their original raison d'être and are rapidly disappearing..

I'm talking old East Coast barns...

[Sarge621]

I think they have them cause its damn dark in NEPA lol. I got night lights in every room that automatically go on at dusk some rooms I have 2 or 3 cause its dark here at night....

[mr.magoo]

Sarge..when is retirement...October?