‘Are we dying?’: Woman panicked after flight attendant handed out candles on plane

A female passenger was left worried and confused after she and other passengers were handed a small candle by staff during a flight.

A female tourist was left panicking and praying her plane wouldn’t crash after staff handed passengers candles shortly before turbulence hit.

Jula Vadini, from Poland, was travelling on a 50 minute flight from Bogotá to San José Del Guaviare, in Colombia, on Saturday, December 7, when a flight attendant woke her up and handed her a small, white, electronic candle.

The staff member provided no explanation to Ms Vadini or others on the plane, simply walking around and distributing the candles to all passengers on-board.

“I was very confused,” Ms Vadini, 27, said in a recent video on TikTok documenting the flight.

Jula Vadini was asleep when a flight attendant woke her up and handed her a candle. Picture: [e-mail]

The attendants handed a candle to every passenger on the flight. Picture: [e-mail]

The Polish digital content creator, who lives in the UK, began to jokingly film the candle for a TikTok video.

“Are we dying?” she questioned in the video, which has amassed over 22,000 views.

But things took a turn for the worst when the turbulence hit.

“The seatbelt sign went on and the pilot started giving security instructions in Spanish,” Ms Vadini told news.com.au.

Unable to translate the instructions, the 27-year-old solo traveller started to “panic” that the plane was going down, and began “over-analysing all the noises”.

“I thought that the candle was given to us for good luck and to pray as we would probably crash”.
“I started to pray!”

Eventually, the plane managed to touch down safely in San José Del Guaviare, despite a bumpy landing.

The 27-year-old said things took a turn when turbulence hit. Picture: [e-mail]

She began praying the plane wouldn’t crash. Picture: [e-mail]

It was not until after Ms Vadini posted the video on TikTok that she discovered the true meaning behind the candle.

“I later realised that I was the only one on the flight who didn’t know about this candle tradition that happens on December 7,” she told news.com.au.

“The candle wasn’t for us to pray before the crash but for us to make a wish. Obviously, I was completely unaware of this.”

The Day of the Little Candles is a traditional Colombian celebration of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, marking the beginning of the Christmas season. Picture: Jaime Saldarriaga/AFP

In Colombia, December 7 marks Little Candles Day or Immaculate Conception Eve — a widely held religious holiday which commemorates the immaculate conception of Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary on the following day.

During the night of December 7, lanterns and colourful candles are lit and placed on streets and outside homes to represent a wish for the wellbeing of loved ones.

“(It) turns out this is a Colombian tradition on December 7,” Ms Vadini shared with her followers on Instagram.

“One candle = one wish! How wholesome.”