INSIDE Greece’s Orthodox churches, candles are a symbol of faith and simplicity, slender and traditionally made of beeswax, and placed in large candleholders filled with sand.
Outside, buyers are looking for a wow-factor to go with Easter gifts: They are sold with dolls, watches and karaoke microphones, or fashioned using dyes and molds in eye-catching designs that include beer bottles, smartphones and action heroes.
High-selling designs this Easter include pandemic-themed candles that resemble COVID-19 test kits, vaccination syringes and even red-colored representations of the ball-and-spike shaped virus itself.
“This year, the COVID-test candle is definitely our best seller,” says Giorgos Souliotis, who runs an online Easter candle store and a seasonal goods store in Athens’ blue collar Korydallos area, one of the city’s most popular outlet for novelty candles.
“People like to make light of something that has affected us all so badly. Last year, the top seller was a
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