Replica of lacquered wooden candles

When both families agreed to a marriage, the boys’ family brings gifts to the girls’ family. One of these gifts were red candles with the depiction of a dragon. Hence, these candles are called lilin liong. Lilin is the Indonesian word for candle, and liong is Chinese for dragon. The candles were placed on the ancestor altar and lit during the wedding. In this case, the candles are made from wood as a replacement when the altar was not in use for a ceremony. Besides dragons, the candles are decorated with flames at the top, and waves at the bottom. In between wishes for good luck are written in Chinese characters. The candle that was placed on the left-hand side of the altar says shou zhu qian qiu, which can be translated as ‘long life, may you live a thousand autumns. On the other candle is written fu xiang wan nian, good luck, you will enjoy this for ten thousand years.

West Java, first half-20th century, wood, pigments