The Easter Vigil begins and ends in darkness. It is a nocturnal vigil, retaining its ancient character of vigilance, and expectation, as the Christian people await the resurrection of the Lord. Fire is blessed and the Paschal candle is lighted to illuminate the night so that all may hear the Easter proclamation and listen to the word of God proclaimed. The Paschal Candle is the symbol of the light of Christ and the resurrection.
The Paschal candle is present near the altar during the entire Easter season and it is a symbol that can be incorporated in our domestic churches as well. This “home Paschal candle” is a reminder of the large Paschal candle and what it symbolizes.
Domestic Church.com has helpful plans for making a personal Paschal candle. Catholic Culture’s Liturgical Year section also includes several references to home Paschal candles from various liturgical year publications of the past. Many include instructions and ideas for symbols to paint.
Last year my friend, Gwen invited several of us fellow homeschoolers to her house for a Paschal candle decorating party.
We came ready with a large pillar candle we had made before Candlemas and had blessed on that feast. I chose a lily fragrance for the scent of the candle when making it, since the Easter lily flower symbolizes the resurrection of Christ.
We used regular acrylic paints to create the symbols on the candle. Many of the instructions say to use an oil paint, but Gwen assured us the acrylic would adhere fine. It definitely held up well as long as no one purposefully scratched it off the surface.
Five whole cloves were placed in the candle in place of the grains of incense which are on the liturgical Paschal candle. They represent the wounds of Christ and the following prayer is recited by the priest when inserting them at the Easter Vigil:
1. By his holy
2. and glorious wounds
3. may Christ our Lord
4. guard us
5. and keep us. Amen
We chose to make our own candle because we like to make candles and we have experience with it, but most people would probably start with a purchased pillar candle. It is very easy to do this project and is a memorable addition to the celebration of the Easter season at home.
Our Domestic Church 
I love this Mary!! My Mom made the paschal candle featured in the most recent Faith and Family… but she said it was challenging. And right now I can’t do challenging. LOL!! I’ve painted with acrylics on candles before, but I never would have thought to use cloves for the incense!! What a great idea!
As always Mary, so beautiful, we’ll be ding these this weekend too, thanks for the inspiration!
This is awesome Mary. We are making our paschal candle this week – your post will be so helpful.
We have plans to make our candle Saturday, but I thought it would be complicated and didn’t know where to look for directions. Perfect timing to see your post. Thank you for sharing this!
I have been holding this idea in mind for a few years now and am in the process of making one with my children this week. May I ask how you got the cloves attached? I tried sticking them in like thumbtacks, after heating the wax slightly, and they make holes but do not stay stuck in them… I am thinking of super-gluing them, but I’d love to know how others have done it.
I got your question about my Paschal candle. I heated the end of a large paperclip in a flame and stuck it into the candle to make a deep and wide enough hole to hold the clove. You can keep reheating the paperclip and inserting it until the wax in the hole is pretty melty. Then when you insert the clove the wax rehardens and holds the clove really tight. I’ve not had any problems with the cloves staying in.
Wow this is amazing, never done a craft like this before. Definitely going to try it this weekend love the idea for using cloves.
Thanks for sharing this with us
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