The word espelma itself is part of the Spanish language, it is used as a synonym for vela. Some people would think that "espelma" is the way to pronounce "sperm" typical of Puerto Ricans and some inhabitants of Venezuela, but it is not so, sperm is something else, which is defined as follows: 1- Fluid husband and whitish in which sperm are in suspension. 2- Melted wax that dries from lit candles. By this last definition is that gaps people mistakenly call "sperm" to candles, instead of "spelt".
Espelma is called to sail or spark plug. This term apparently comes from the catalan. Reading a small book on "Myths and tales of Moquegua " I found this term in reference to sailing, something like 34 monks in the procession wore candle " which I initially thought was an error instead of sperm; asking a person from Moquegua on the meaning of the word quickly he told me that it was sailing