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| Global Exchange brings you a colorful Fair Trade Menorah with a set of Arrayan tree wax candles! A saving of $14.00
About the Menorah:Painted in a style traditional to El Salvador, this colorful menorah depicts the daily scenes of life in the Salvadorian countryside. he Beeswax Chanukah Menorah Candles fit with this menorah, as well as standard menorah candles. About the Candles: 45 colorful Arrayan tree wax taper candle in a selection of colors; reds, greens, blues and purples. Hand made by Mayan Q'eqchi and Pokomchi people
from the waxy seeds of the Arrayan tree, a native of the cloud forests of
Guatemala.
The Arrayan seed candles are sacred to the Mayan people, and are used to ask the Tzull Taq'a (God
of the Mountain) for health, money, work, and abundance of crops as
well as protection for their family and domestic animals. The scent and
light of these candles is said to be capable of bringing together the Oxlaju Tzull Taq'a (the 13 Sacred Mountains).
Country of Origin: El Salvador & Guatemala
Dimensions:12" x 3" x 4" It is constructed of Pine from a Chilean reforesting project. The paint
is water based and toxin-free. Each menorah is one-of-a-kind.
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Producer Information:
"Boiling the seeds to extract the wax".
The sales of these candles support "Proyecto Eco Quetzal", a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing environmental education, sustainable agriculture, bio-monitoring as well as social issues and community development in rural Guatemala.
Menorah's
La Semilla de Dios consists of 40 people of limited economic resources who make a variety of wooden items painted in the famous La Palma folk art style. Men do the carpentry, and women the hand-painting and finishing. Founded by internationally known Salvadoran artist Fernando Llort, the
cooperative paints in the simple, joyful, colorful folk art style for
which Llort's work is known, celebrating this community's culture and
uniqueness.
About the Cooperative:
The cooperative owns a piece of land in the mountains outside town, where they plant and sustainably harvest trees to supply about 40 percent of their wood needs. The traditional cooperative structure of La Semilla de Dios puts power and profits in the hands of the group's employees. Cooperative income provides better nutrition and educational opportunities for artisans' children. La Semilla de Dios also runs a savings plan from which members can borrow, offers micro loans and has instituted a retirement fund.
Income from product sales is important, as life in the countryside is difficult, especially for women. Many of the women are single mothers who must take care of the house, feed their families and plant subsistence crops of corn and beans.
La Semilla de Dios was founded in 1977, in the midst of El Salvador's brutal civil war. La Palma was in a principal area of conflict during the war, and its residents suffered great hardship. La Palma is sometimes called "the cradle of peace," because it was here in 1984 that the government and guerrillas first held talks during the civil war.
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