The Bayberry Candle Tradition and How to Do the New Year’s Eve Prosperity Ritual

I’ve been doing candle magic since I was a kid. My family is from the East Coast and every year we took part in the bayberry candle tradition on New Year’s Eve and on Christmas Eve.

Burning a bayberry candle at the end of the year is an old New England custom. According to the tradition, if you burn a bayberry candle all the way to the socket, it will bring good luck, prosperity, and “gold to the pocket” for the coming year.

The tradition goes back to Colonial America, when true bayberry candles were rare, valuable, and saved for special occasions. Today, many people still burn them as part of winter holiday rituals and money spells.

The History of the Bayberry Candle Tradition

Bayberry candles became associated with prosperity because of how rare and valuable they were in Colonial America. Unlike inexpensive but terrible-smelling tallow or smoky pitch-pine candles, wax made from the bayberry or candleberry bush (Morella cerifera or Myrica pensylvanica) was pleasant.

But, because of the labor involved, it was considered a luxury reserved for the most important winter holidays. It took about 15 pounds of berries to make just one pound of myrtle wax, and the refinement process had to be repeated several times. Harvesting and rendering enough wax for even a few taper candles required hours of foraging and boiling.

Colonial pricing reflects this scarcity. Records from 18th-century Virginia show myrtle wax selling at 7½ pence per pound and bayberry candles at around 10 pence per pound—slightly more than everyday tallow candles, which ranged from 9½ to 11 pence per pound. But price alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Bayberry wax was seasonal, geographically limited to coastal areas, and far more labor-intensive to produce than tallow.

Because of this, families rarely used bayberry candles for daily lighting. Instead, the green candles were saved for New Year’s, or in some locations, Christmas Eve.

Much of this is documented in the writings of Alice Morse Earle in her 1898 book Home Life in Colonial Days and the journals of Swedish naturalist Pehr Kalm, who wrote in 1748:

“There is a plant here from the berries of which they make a kind of wax or tallow, and for that reason the Swedes call it the tallow-shrub. The English call the same tree the candle-berry tree or bayberry bush; it grows abundantly in a wet soil, and seems to thrive particularly well in the neighborhood of the sea. The berries look as if flour had been strewed on them.

They are gathered late in Autumn, being ripe about that time, and are thrown into a kettle or pot full of boiling water; by this means their fat melts out, floats at the top of the water, and may be skimmed off into a vessel; with the skimming they go on till there is no tallow left.

The tallow, as soon as it is congealed, looks like common tallow or wax, but has a dirty green color. By being melted over and refined it acquires a fine and transparent green color. This tallow is dearer than common tallow, but cheaper than wax.

Candles of this do not easily bend, nor melt in summer as common candles do; they burn better and slower, nor do they cause any smoke, but yield rather an agreeable smell when they are extinguished. In Carolina they not only make candles out of the wax of the berries, but likewise sealing-wax.“

How Do I Do the Bayberry Candle Ritual?

The bayberry candle ritual is simple: You light a bayberry wax taper candle on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, let it burn completely (or as close as safely possible), and, optionally, recite the bayberry poem. The belief is that doing so invites prosperity and good luck in the coming year.

When Should I Light the Bayberry Candle?

If you are burning the candle for good luck in the coming year, light it on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, or Yule. Because of their rarity, they were only burned on one of the holidays, not both, and the tradition is most closely tied to New Year’s Eve.

You should light your bayberry candle just before dusk or after the first star appears in the night sky. Considering how early the sun sets in December, this means your candle should burn until just after midnight. If your candle has a long wick, trim it to 1/2″ or less before lighting.

What Does Burn it To the Socket Mean?

It means the candle must burn down completely until the wick reaches the base or “socket” of the taper for the prosperity to manifest. Allowing it to burn through symbolized that the good luck and prosperity of the coming year would be as steady as the candle’s flame.

What If I Have to Go to Bed?

Some say that if you extinguish it, it’s bad luck. But, so is burning down your house. If you get tired before the bayberry candle has burned all the way to the end, I recommend snuffing it, but not blowing it out. Relight it the following night and let it burn completely.

Alternatively, many small candles, such as votives or shorter candles should burn safely within four to six hours, allowing the ritual to complete before you go to bed.

The Bayberry Poem

There are several versions of the poem that goes along with the burning of the candle, but the most common is:

“A bayberry candle burned to the socket
Brings joy to the heart and gold to the pocket.”

A longer version often shared in gift sets:

“A bayberry candle comes from a friend,
So on Christmas Eve burn it down to the end.
For a bayberry candle burned to the socket
Will bring joy to the heart and gold to the pocket.”

That said, the bayberry candle poem is probably modern. There’s no record of it in early American spell books, almanacs, household guides, or folk-magic collections.

While the suggestion to burn the whole candle likely came from Colonial times, the poem seems to appear for the first time in the mid-20th century. It may have been created by candle makers or gift shops who were reviving “old New England Christmas” nostalgia. Eventually it just became part of the bayberry candle’s tradition. But, if it helps you align with the intention of the spell, it’s a decent petition.

Bayberry Candle Meanings in Magic

If you want to work with bayberry outside the holidays, the herb is associated with Jupiter, the planet of expansion, luck, and prosperity. You can use it in spells connected to abundance, prosperity, good luck, protection, or emotional healing.

Ways to work with bayberry:

• anoint a money-drawing candle with bayberry oil
• sprinkle powdered bayberry root on your wallet or credit card
• add bayberry to money spell jars or prosperity charms

Where to Buy Authentic Bayberry Candles

Authentic bayberry candles are always labeled as containing real bayberry wax, since many commercial “bayberry” candles are simply scented paraffin. Which is fine for candle magic, but if you’re looking for candles made from real bayberry, make sure to look for that distinction.

Authentic Taper Candles

This pair of 8″ joined bayberry candles gives you a candle for New Year’s Eve and another for a future prosperity ritual.

Bayberry Votive Candles

These votive candles burn faster than the longer taper candle if you want to go to bed shortly after midnight with the candle having burned all the way to the socket.

Real Bayberry Taper Candles on Amazon

Cape Candles carries everything bayberry that you might want from authentic taper candles made with real bayberry wax and votives to herbal melts for warmers and wax squares.

Sources and Further Reading

Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle
Travels into North America by Pehr Kalm
History and Present State of Virginia by Robert Beverley
Candlemaking by Harold Gill and Lou Powers

FAQ

What does bayberry smell like?

Real bayberry wax has a subtle, natural fragrance that’s woodsy and slightly sweet. It’s not strong, but many people describe it as “old-fashioned Christmas.” Most commercial “bayberry” candles today use fragrance oils, but true bayberry wax has a distinct olive-green color and a light botanical scent on its own.

What is the significance of bayberry candles?

Traditionally, bayberry candles are burned on New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve to welcome in good luck, prosperity, and blessings for the coming year. This symbolism grew from Colonial America, where bayberry wax was rare and labor-intensive to make. Because the candles were reserved for the most important nights of winter, they eventually became associated with abundance and good fortune. Modern practitioners also use bayberry in money spells.