Until recently, I’d been using a butane aim-n-flame lighter to start fires in my wood stove. I didn’t like all the waste they embody: plastic, metal, chemical fuel – so I got a package of old fashioned fireplace matches, thinking that was a more responsible choice.
What surprised me, though, was the memory they invoked.
Cold air, the sound and smell of freshly struck match. Where does it bring me?
I was instantly teleported back in time 40 years to another life with a tradition where matches were struck in winter…
Nevermind that this hasn’t been a part of my life for many decades, the power of smell to invoke a memory is very potent! Indeed, even the ritual utterances that go along with the match strike and the candle lighting all came streaming into my head. The fact that I didn’t say them out loud somehow felt like a moment of suppression, even though (a) that specific observance was months ago, for those who observe it, and (b) I was just lighting a stove, not one of these. But still, the chill air + the sound and smell and sight of a freshly struck match brought me instantly to that place in history where this was a part of my world, so long ago.
Amazing.