Candles

Since it is Christmas time, lots of people probably have candles sitting in their homes. The same is happening in Chengdu, but for a very different reason. As almost everyone has probably heard, there is a large rumor that December 21st 2012 will be the end of the world. There is also a rumor here that there will be three days of darkness before the end of the world, and that the electricity will be out. So now you probably see the link between the two situations. Since there is "going to be" three days of darkness, with no electricity to light a person's house, some people want to have lots of candles on hand just in case. We saw an example of this on the way to church Sunday morning. Usually candles are not prominently displayed out on the sidewalk, but we walked by a large box filled with candles being sold for very cheap, approximately 16 cents per candle. Since I like candles a lot, purely for aesthetic reasons, I bought a lot of candles. I only found out later that they were for the three days of darkness. This is not just a mere coincidence, this is happening all over the Sichuan province, where there have been reports of candle shortages. It might be happening elsewhere, but there have only been reports of it in Sichuan. I'm not sure if the world will end soon, but I like the fact that candles are so cheap now.