The candle, once our primary source of indoor illumination, culturally symbolizes celebration, warmth and romance. Throughout history, each society has its own method of creating candles. Early Egyptians used torches by soaking reeds in melted animal fat and Romans developed wicked candles by repeatedly dipping papyrus into melted beeswax. Our modern unit of illumination, even for fluorescent and light emitting diode "luminaries" remains the "standard candle."