A memory of cemetery measuring from the town of Pruzhene, recorded after the Holocaust by A Fayvushinsky 

Cemetery measuring’ is used in cases of severe illness. It is done in this way: several women walk around the cemetery and measure like so: one holds a ball of cotton in her apron, and a second coils the thread around the cemetery. Later, the thread is placed in a bowl of wax, then divided into shorter threads and rolled into candles. While extending the thread, one says the following: 

כ’האָב אַ מאַמע צײטעלע

פֿאַר איר נשמה אַ קנײטעלע

דרײט מען דאָס פֿעדעמל שטאַרק

לאַנג, לאַנג.

I have a mama, Tseytele, 

For her soul – a kneytele (candle wick) 

The thread is spun, strong

 long, long. 

The candle is later placed as a gift in the Bes-Medresh – the house of study and prayer. 

Cite this source: 

A Fayvushinsky, “Pruzhener Folklor” (Pruzhany Folklore), Mordechai Wolf Bernstein (ed.) Pinkes fun finf fartilikte kehiles (Chronicle of five destroyed communities): Pruzshene, Bereze, Malṭsh, Shersheṿ, Selts. Buenos Aires, 1958. Trans. Annabel Gottfried Cohen

The original source is available online here and this extract is found on page 202.