Light a candle for a wish or a dream
Write down a wish and it sits in a drawer. Light a candle for it here and it takes a permanent place on a public wall, next to the wishes of everyone else who did the same. An exam, a new job, a move, the courage for something you keep putting off. The wall holds 1,000,000 candles and is then sealed in time.
Why put a wish somewhere public?
Because a wish nobody can see is easy to forget about. It is the same reason people say a goal out loud instead of just thinking it — once you write it somewhere that will still exist next year, you take it more seriously.
And you are not doing it alone. Every flame on that wall is somebody’s: a name they could not let go of, an exam next week, a person in a hospital bed. Yours stands among them.
What do you actually write?
Whatever the wish is about — a name, a place, a single word. The site was built by one person who wanted to see Japan and made somewhere to put that; there is a candle on the wall for that trip. Nothing about a wish here has to be solemn.
If none of the offered reasons fit yours, choose “Something else…” and write it in your own words. That text is yours and is never translated or edited.
How long does it stay?
Permanently. It does not burn out after a day and there is nothing to renew. When the millionth candle is lit the wall closes for good, and the intention is to save it into the Internet Archive — so the wish can outlast the website itself.
- Light a candle in memory of someone — and it stays — For someone you have lost — their name on the wall, in a place that stays.
- Light a candle for someone’s recovery — For someone who is ill — yours or theirs, with a link you can send them.
- Light a candle for a birthday — one that stays — Not a cake you blow out — a candle with their name that is still there next year.
- Light a candle for someone and send them the link — For a bad week, or just because — something that took more than typing a message.
- Light a candle to say thank you — For the teacher, the nurse, the friend who showed up — and never heard it.
- What One Million Candles is, and why it exists