Selling Candles in Cebu City
This woman is one of many selling prayer candles on the street outside the Basilica del Santo Nino in Cebu City in the Philippines. Inside the basilica, it is possible to buy small red candles to light as you make your prayer. These women sell candles on the street to people who are passing by and don’t have the time to go inside the basilica. Their candles are long regular candles of various sizes. The cheapest is one peso each. These candles are laid down lengthwise on steel grills over metal containers of various types. There is no special significance to that. It’s done, rather than putting the candles upright, so that they stay lit. I bought five candles from this woman for five pesos and laid them down on the nearest grill.