January 27, 2025
Community

The Candle

From time to time we have power cuts at Highclere. At first, everyone is full of good spirits and the resolves to make the best of it. Then the realisation dawns that that everything we think to do, from telephones, to kettles, catching up on emails to ironing, all involves electricity.

Typically, power cuts also tend to happen in winter when there is less light in any case. As what little there is slowly fades and darkness starts to sinks into every corner, our eyesight adjusts but is not strong enough to distinguish colour or shape sufficiently to make things work.

The central Saloon of the Castle in particular gets very dark very quickly. In this situation, its height and space, normally so admirable, work against it and the candles I’ve gathered are helpful but insufficient. There are some torches but if you have to go to find something, it is such a small pool of light shining around your feet that it is not always enough  to avoid the bumps in the floor or the stairs.

It is better to simply gather together in the lighter area – it is a “darkling space”. We try to get accustomed to the gloom but soon start to wonder when the electrics might be restored. There is always an intuitive emotional response to darkness in that it conjures up the unknown along with the most basic fears of what might lurk! In fact, complete darkness profoundly changes the sensory sensibilities of our brain.

Humans and nature have evolved with a day and night cycle, the circadian rhythm which is essential for our good health. To quote Russell Foster, professor of molecular neuroscience at Imperial College, “The body clock adapts us for the varying demands of activity and rest. It ensures our internal synchronicity: that our various internal systems – temperature, alertness, blood pressure and so on – are working together”. Melatonin for example is called “the Dracula hormone” because it always comes out at night. Its production, however, can be severely reduced by bright artificial light We need the darkness  – continuous light is disturbing and will make us ill. Light allows us to see , it provides information and above all our wellbeing.

Most religions begin with myths of darkness out of which comes light. In Ancient Egypt there are many words denoting light but a general word expresses light as the opposite of shadow and of darkness and  the role of light in the process of creation. Light came into being “after darkness” (m pt snkt) and emerged out of a lotus flower that appeared on the surface of ‘Nun’ the primordial chaos. In other faiths, the importance of light is reflected in major festivals  from Diwali, Advent and Hanukkah.

“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.” Anne Frank.

Hiding in the dark in an attic in Amsterdam in World War II, Anne kept and regularly wrote in a diary she had received as a birthday present. In 1944, however, the family was discovered by the Germans and Anne and her sister Margot were transferred firstly to Auschwitz and then to Bergen Belsen concentration camp where she died.

Her diary was found in 1947 by her father Otto Frank who survived his internment in Auschwitz. It was published initially in Holland and then in 1952 in English as The Diary of a Young Girl. Since then it has been published in over 70 languages.

Eleanor Roosevelt described it as “one of the wisest and most moving commentaries on war and its impact on human beings that I have ever read.” John F Kennedy said, “Of all the multitudes who throughout history have spoken for human dignity in times of great suffering and loss, no voice is more compelling than that of Anne Frank.”

I was reminded of the power of the individual voice whilst sitting listening to BBC Radio 4 this morning and how important they can be in triggering memories in the same way that light can trigger feelings of safety. To remember is an action in itself, it is not passive, which the Anglo-Saxons were aware of in their word for it “ge-mynd”. As long as we keep remembering, people, places and actions will never truly fade.

“They are all gone into the world of light and if each candle burns out, the memory never does.”