In the Market for Religion

     One morning, I stopped in the Cherry Valley grocery store on the Upper East Side before heading into my internship.  While I was scanning the aisles for something to have later for lunch, I came across a display of religious candles.  To say the display caught me off guard would be a bit of an understatement, as these candles were positioned in between displays of dish soap and dog treats, the very last place I would expect to find a religious artifact.

     Upon further examining this display, I noticed that there were candles with all different religious figures.  Some had an image of Jesus on them, while others donned pictures of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Anthony, the Sacred Heart, and more.  In addition to the image printed on the glass jar, each candle had a prayer and list of intentions printed on the outside.  Each prayer corresponded to the saint or image depicted on the jar.

     When thinking about the significance of this display, I first wondered why these religious figures would be printed on candles, of all places, found in a tiny grocery store.  I settled on the fact that candles served as a symbol of guidance.  If you think about the origin of candles, their first purpose was to generate light to drive out darkness.  Candles helped people to find their way, enabling them to see what they otherwise could not.  I think this is very symbolic of religion, as that is exactly what faith is for a lot of people.  Many people find comfort in knowing that they have religion to guide them, and be the light that drives the darkness out of their lives.

     But still, I wondered, why sell these candles in a grocery store?  Why were they not in a cathedral gift shop or in a store that sells other religious items?  I then considered the fact that a grocery store was a very accessible place.  Anyone can enter a grocery store, and people frequent them because everyone needs food on a regular basis.  So, by putting these candles in a grocery store, there was a heightened chance that all sorts of people would come across them.  If they were only sold at a religious venue, only the religious would encounter them.  But by selling them in a secular establishment, it provided the opportunity for all people to be exposed to and impacted by these candles, allowing religion to reach a very wide audience.

     These candles reminded me of Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums, as they are unconventional and spontaneous expressions of religion.  I could totally see Kerouac and his buddies lighting one of these candles in the middle of the woods and meditating for a couple of hours, as opposed to engaging in a formal church service.  These candles allow people to bring their religion into their homes, and engage in casual faith-related activities on a day-to-day basis.  Though some people might gloss right over this display while picking up dish detergent or dog food, it has the potential to inspire people to incorporate religion into their everyday lives, which is a pretty great feat for a small grocery store in Manhattan.