By: NMRR
It’s that time of year again, the calendar tells us that a year is coming to an end to bring about new beginnings. On December 31st most people celebrate New Year’s Eve, except for the few that celebrate Chinese New Year in February. This celebration is very important and has many traditions that vary depending on where you live and your culture.
Here are some popular New Year’s Eve traditions that you might have heard of or even done yourself, if not you can try some this year to welcome 2019:
- Eating 12 grapes: You are supposed to eat 12 grapes and make a wish for each at midnight. Some people go all out competing to who can eat them faster. I don’t do this one because I would rather spend midnight hugging the people that I love and care for.
- Taking a suitcase around the block: Now this one I’ve heard of since I was little girl, I didn’t quite see anyone going around the block with a suitcase since that requires quite a walk, but i always saw people with bags and suitcases in their cars and just taking them for a spin nearby the area where the party was at. It assures you good travels throughout the year. I do like this one, and most of the times I have a bag with me because I am staying over someplace else. If you love traveling you might want to give this one a try.
- The bucket of water: I’m Puerto Rican and I remember my grandmother cleaning the house and keeping the bucket of water and then at midnight throwing that bucket out the front yard to welcome the new year with a clean home and getting rid of all the bad luck. Just make sure no one is nearby so you don’t ruin their New Year’s attire.
- Carefully picking what you wear: Some people wear certain colors on New Year’s, depending on their zodiac sign, their religious beliefs or just their favorite colors, and this goes for everything. From underwear, to clothing, jewelry and shoes. Some wear only gold jewelry for abundance and some carry money in their shoes, socks or pockets during the festivities. I have heard that red underwear is for love and passion, and yellow underwear is for prosperity. Some cities in Brazil and other latin countries wear all white, like many who practice the Yoruba religion.
- Lists: Some people create New Year’s lists, for their resolutions, their plans and dreams. Others, make lists to burn them at midnight, where they write all the “bad” things they wish would go with the old year. In some countries they create a doll and call it “año viejo” (old year) and burn the doll at midnight, if that’s too extreme for you, stick to the list. PS. Always be careful when dealing with fire.
There is another popular tradition that’s our main topic today, lighting candles. Many cultures and religions celebrate New Year’s by lighting candles. With candles as with clothing, colors may play a big role. Some pick colors because of their religious beliefs, others because of their zodiac sign and others will choose colors depending on what chakras they want to activate or celebrate.
If you are into astrology, colors are associated with the planets, and the planets with certain days of the week: FYI-This year New Year’s Eve falls on a Monday.
- Monday: Grey, silver or white
- Tuesday: Red
- Wednesday: Purple
- Thursday: Blue
- Friday: Green
- Saturday: Black or purple
- Sunday: Gold or yellow
For those who still have not decided on what color you will pick this year, here are some general color candle meanings:
- Blue: Peace, meditation, inspiration
- Yellow: Confidence, creativity, clarity
- Green: Money, luck, abundance
- Red: Passion, life, courage
- White: Peace, truth
- Orange: Intelligence, energy
- Pink: Love, friendship, joy
- Purple: Spiritual awareness, wisdom
- Black: Protection, destruction of negative energy
- Silver: Goddess, feminine energy
- Gold: Male energy, solar energy
But maybe color isn’t an important factor for you, maybe you are more into your sense of smell than your sense of eyesight. It could be that our sense of smell is more closely related to our memory, making it a highly emotive sense. You can forget a song, a face, a taste, a texture, but a smell can evoke memories from as early as your childhood. Our most “primitive” sense, that goes back to our relationship with our parents, babies can identify their mothers by their smell even without seeing them, the same happens with animals. A dog can smell it’s human from far away, so even if the dog goes blind it would instantly recognize its human and protect it. Wolves have a great sense of smell, making them amazing hunters.
In fact, food can taste differently if you can’t smell it properly, our sense of smell can even help us to survive by alerting us of danger even before we can see or hear anything, as it becomes even more acute when we are in vulnerable situations. Also, our sense of smell is probably how we choose our partners, our body odor which is produced by the genes that make up our immune system, is a key factor when it comes to attraction, this is why the same perfume can smell differently on different people.
Did you know that our noses can pick up over a trillion smells? But our eyes can only pick out about 10 million colors.
So, if you are looking to entice your sense of smell this New Year’s Eve, then aromatic scented candles may be the way to go for the celebrations.
When I talk about enticing the sense of smell I think of aromatherapy, the use of essential oils to complement a healthy lifestyle. Aromatherapy works because our sense of smell is closely linked to our brains,since the electrical impulses go through our olfactory nerve and connect into our limbic system. Our limbic system controls our emotional responses, regulate our heartbeats, temperature, digestion and nervous systems.
Aromatherapy can be done with essential oils applied directly to skin, in diffusers, burners, sprays, salts, inhalers, creams, lotions, steamers, compressess, or with essential oil-infused scented candles.
So how can aromatherapy fit into your New Year’s Eve celebrations?
- You: Take a bath with aromatic bath salts or a shower steamer, then apply a cream, lotion or body oil that soothes your senses and your skin. Relax for a while with an aromatic compress for your eyes and another for your neck to calm your neck muscles and revive your eye contour.
- Your home: If the party is in your home you can leave aromatic sprays and diffusers around the different rooms, like the bathroom and kitchen, which are heavy traffic areas.
- Traditions: If you already light candles just before midnight you can light scented candles to add aromatherapy to your New Year’s traditions. This is where Resveralife comes into play, with the White Gardenia and the Bubbly Champagne scented candles.
Resveralife is a lifestyle brand that focuses on the five senses and how different products can improve your life through the senses. The brand has stores located all over the world plus an online store that also has a blog section with healthy lifestyle articles. They have skincare & body care products, herbal teas, infusers, teapots, mats, and aromatherapy products. I also have their yoga mat and i love it.
I chose their candles because they are both white and I like to have something white each new year’s eve, plus they smell great. Both come in 5.3oz crystal containers that are embellished with decorative designs for a candle that also looks good as part of your home decoration. They come inside a box that gives you specific use instructions for safety and a longer lifespan, they should last about 30 hours each in total. For example, it is recommended to not burn the candle for more than 4 hours at a time so it lasts longer, and not to burn all the way to the end so the crystal container can be reused.
The White Gardenia scented candle is both citrusy and floral, with hints of:
- Orchid: A delicate and sweet aroma
- Ylang Ylang: An uplifting sweet and floral scent
- Lily of the Valley: A calm and sutil scent
- Jasmine: Strong and warm aroma
- Rose: A soothing and relaxing aroma
The Bubbly Champagne scented candle is fruity and bubbly, yes that is the word i use to describe it, with hints of:
- Hyacinth: A fresh and floral scent
- Violet: Has an earthy aroma and blends well with other oils
- Lavender: One of the most popular aromas, it helps you relax and calm your mind
- Jasmine: Strong and warm aroma
- Orchid: A delicate and sweet aroma
I got them both for New Year’s Eve but just having them at home without lighting them I can smell the scent. Iif it’s a warm day and the house was closed for some hours when I go in it’s a wonderful feeling. I love that they are not too big, because I have noticed with other big candles that if they are burning near something that’s a light color, like a white wall it can get stained with the smoke.
I definitely appreciate that the wax feels satiny and oily, and doesn’t burn , so if you’re like me, you like to move candles around, you don’t have to wait until it cools down and the wax gets hard again. My plan is to light the White Gardenia candle for room ambiance and leave the Bubbly Champagne candle for midnight celebrations. Since they both have nice decorative glass containers I plan on peeling off the label and reusing them. The White Gardenia container is clear with metallic accents, while the Bubbly Champagne container has bluish tones.
I am all for reusing, downsizing, and minimalism. There is a lot of people in the world and we produce too much trash, so i will share some reusing ideas for those crystal candle containers:
* First clean them out by scraping all you can with a butter knife or metal spoon and then fill with boiling water until wax comes off or scrub them with a steel wool.
- You can make new candles (if you have the time to do this then go for it, it takes about 4 to 5 hours)
- Use them to store loose items like bobby pins and makeup
- Use them as succulent planters
- As a vase for small flowers
- You can organize your art space, your brushes, paints and crafts
- In your office for your pens, pencils and paper clips
- Use them at the candy bar for the almonds, chocolates and other small sweets
- Fill them with fake seashells for an ocean-vibe decoration (fake ones because seashells are meant to stay at the beach)
Pinterest has some more ideas on how to reuse candle jars. But if you are not into reusing, you can take them to a second hand / vintage store where many people will find creative uses for those empty candle jars (I might be one of those).
My take on these scented candles is that they are high quality candles that come in pretty glass containers and last a long time. If you don’t light candles for New Year’s Eve celebrations, it’s ok, they are also great to have around the home. After all, taking a warm bath with salts or just laying down with a face mask while having these aromatic candles soothe your sense of smell is a celebration in itself.
I will definitely put one of the White Gardenia candles around my room and i will use the Bubbly Champagne candles for future house parties.
If you want to know more about the different lifestyle products and blog posts that Resveralife has, check out their social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Hope you all have a wonderful New Year’s Eve and an even greater 2019!
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