A versatile terracotta tealight in an invigorating blend of herbal rosemary and cool bay leaf.
 
Made in the UK by the St Eval Candle Company in Cornwall. Burn time: up to 8 hours.
 
The evergreen bay, or laurel, is associated with Apollo, the Ancient Greek god of culture, music, poetry, medicine, healing, oracles, prophecy and the sun.
 
Once upon a time, Apollo fell in love with the nymph Daphne, whose name means 'laurel'. She, however, was not remotely interested in him, and ran away as fast as she could. Eventually she begged her river-god father to help her to escape the clutches of the persistent god. Ovid in his Metamorphoses describes her transformation into a tree, and how, when Apollo finally catches up with her, he embraces bark, not her skin, and branches, not her arms. Resigned to the fact that Daphne could never, in her female form, be his, Apollo vowed that the laurel tree, which bore her name, would forever be sacred to him.
 
Apollo is often depicted as 'laureate', - wearing a laurel wreath - as were poets such as Virgil, musicians such as Orpheus, and Emperors such as Augustus.
 
The office of Poet Laureate, the Italian word 'laureato/a' for someone who has been awarded an academic degree, and the phrase 'resting on one's laurels' all have their origin in the story of Daphne and Apollo.
 
Like the bay laurel, rosemary is also evergreen. It is one of the oldest herbs used in Greece and we can trace its usage back to ca 500BC. The ancient Greeks believed it could strengthen the memory. It is used extensively in Greek cooking, especially with lamb, fish and potatoes.