This is a thing

By that I do not mean that this is a photograph of an object, I mean that this is a photograph of a hobby currently trending in Greece. I have no idea if it is popular elsewhere, I first encountered it in Thessaloniki last April and I have not visited another city since then.

How to explain it?
In Greece there is a midnight church service on Easter Saturday which everyone attends (except for us of course). At the conclusion of the service there is a candle-lit procession around the parish when the lintels over the front doors of members of the congregation are marked with a cross using soot from the candles. It stands to reason therefore that you want to arrive at church armed with a substantial candle.

Easter gifts of substantial candles are the local equivalent of chocolate eggs (although we do have those as well). Your candle needs to stand out in the procession and so it will be artfully decorated, here's just a taste.

But, they are expensive and a lot of Greek people are really feeling the pinch so there is now a profusion of small shops selling tiny decorations for use on candles – or on anything else apparently!

I can only presume that this was once a wine bottle which has since been artfully transformed into what I am not quite sure. Obviously it is supposed to sit on my dressing table if I had such a thing, but nobody has anything on a dressing table in a bottle this large. We are not keepers of nick-nacks nor ornaments and so this has stood awkwardly on top of our fridge since I was given it in May. Now that it has provided me with an emergency blip it has served the most useful purpose of its sad and pointless life, just how to dispose of it thoughtfully.