The tradition of votive lamps

 The tradition of votive lights is primarily linked to the cult of the dead and it is so rooted in our culture and stratified as to lose these roots.

The eternal light is a myth made feasible only by the advent of large-scale electricity that made accessible to every portfolio the opportunity to maintain a lamp always on.

In ancient times it was different, only the important temples could afford a luxury like keeping getting fed the oil lamp. So in ancient Greece, as in Rome, the chronicles tell of temples where there was a lamp always on, but they were sporadic cases and above all they were places of exceptional importance.

The church of the first period was not favourable to ignition practice of votive lamps because they were linked to pagan rituals. The strenght of symbolism represented by the flame has meant that even in Christian and Catholic rituals was inserted the using of votive lights.

In the early church, as well as in the pre Christian period, the light was connected mainly to female figures, because it was connected to the house and the family hearth. With the passage of time has extended its symbolic meaning, becoming a symbol of the presence of Christ in the tabernacle of each church. In any case, the link between the female figure and the votive light, is still perpetuated by the devotion to the Virgin Mary, venerated with the lighting of a lamp.