hand-shaped candle?

I remember the item that started off the "Body Politic" sequence was a hand-shaped candle, which Lloyd's character said was based on a European custom of making a candle from the hand of an executed man, using his own body fat, or something like that. Such a thing was called Hand of Fate or Hand of God in the movie.

I'm doing a little bit of research on the Body Worlds exhibits, and thought such practices, if true, were related.