The rising trend of using celebrity prayer candles! Is dying faith in USA the reason?
- Why are celebrity prayer candles becoming so popular and selling like hotcakes?
- Let us find out.
The celebrity prayer candles
Gift shops and Etsy have begun selling prayer candles that have pictures of AOC, the Golden Girls, and Dolly Parton. And these are increasingly becoming popular.
And their selling price is more than the normal prayer candles. While a regular prayer candle sells for $ 2, their celebrity-featured candles sell for $ 12.
Angie Quintanilla Coates’ shop named The Five15 sells these and it has images of various famous celebrities such as Jonathan Van Ness. The prayer candles featuring Jonathan Van Ness are one of the shop’s best sellers.
The other stars on them are Frida Kahlo, Dolly Parton, and political figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Stars are all pictured to look like saints or as Angie calls it a ‘ modernized version of a saint’.
What are prayer candles?
Prayer candles are also called Votive candles and are routinely used by Catholics as well as during New Age rituals. They are used in homes or in churches.
Lighting a candle is meant to imply calling on the Saint featured on it for help and blessing. One is for finding a suitable and good date, another saint is for health reasons, and another saint signifies financial health.
The rebirth and pop culture twist to prayer candles!
There have now been some changes to this concept of prayer candles. Gift shops are now stocking celebrity versions of it for which they find more takers. The Saints in these new-age prayer candles are replaced by celebrities dressed as saints.
You find any celebrity on it and this may even be Cardi B, Steve Buscemi, or the Golden Girls. Labeled as a religious item, it has a growing customer base. Many Americans do not associate themselves with any religion or faith. This declining trust in faith might explain the rise of celebrity prayer candles.
In 1991, only 6 percent of Americans did not believe in any faith but in 2016, this has taken a great leap and now 25% of Americans consider themselves atheists. In the 19-to-29 age group, this figure is 39%. This comes from a study carried out by the Public Relations Research Institute.
University of Toronto sociology professor Ethan Fosse states:
“The people of the United States are becoming less and less religious and that is not an artifact of age,”
“It does appear that they are attending church and religious services less often. Jewish people are also becoming more secular.”
Though America is more religious than the Netherlands or the UK, the last three years have seen a downward trend in it. The reason for it is according to Ethan:
“People have very progressive attitudes on marijuana and gay rights, and religious groups have taken a diametrically opposing position,”
“Everyone knows a gay person and everyone knows someone who smokes marijuana.”
He adds:
“It’s not people saying, ‘I’m an atheist, I hate religion. They are just saying, ‘I don’t have a religion.’ They are not making a big sort of epistemological statement.”
Source: Vox
