The Adorable Custom of ‘Telling The Bees’

The bee friend, a painting by Hans Thoma (1839–1924)

There was a time when almost every rural British family who kept bees followed a strange tradition. Whenever there was a death in the family, someone had to go out to the hives and tell the bees of the terrible loss that had befallen the family.

 

Failing to do so often resulted in further loss such as the bees leaving the hive, or not producing enough honey or even dying. Traditionally, the bees were kept abreast of not only deaths but all important family matters including births, marriages, and long absence due to journeys. If the bees were not told, all sorts of calamities were thought to happen. This peculiar custom is known as “telling the bees”.

Humans have always had a special connection with bees. In medieval Europe, bees were highly prized for their honey and wax. Honey was used as food, to make mead—possibly the world’s oldest fermented beverage—and as medicine to treat burns, cough, indigestion and other ailments. Candles made from beeswax burned brighter, longer and cleaner than other wax candles. Bees were often kept at monasteries and manor houses, where they were tended with the greatest respect and considered part of the family or community. It was considered rude, for example, to quarrel in front of bees.

The practice of telling the bees may have its origins in Celtic mythology that held that bees were the link between our world and the spirit world. So if you had any message that you wished to pass to someone who was dead, all you had to do was tell the bees and they would pass along the message. Telling the bees was widely reported from all around England, and also from many places across Europe. Eventually, the tradition made their way across the Atlantic and into North America.

The typical way to tell the bees was for the head of the household, or “goodwife of the house” to go out to the hives, knock gently to get the attention of the bees, and then softly murmur in a doleful tune the solemn news. Little rhymes developed over the centuries specific to a particular region. In Nottinghamshire, the wife of the dead was heard singing quietly in front of the hive—“The master’s dead, but don’t you go; Your mistress will be a good mistress to you.” In Germany, a similar couplet was heard—”Little bee, our lord is dead; Leave me not in my distress”.

A widow and her son telling the bees of a death in the family. Painting by Charles Napier Hemy (1841–1917)

Telling the bees was common in New England. The 19th century American poet John Greenleaf Whittier describes this peculiar custom in his 1858 poem “Telling the bees”.

Before them, under the garden wall,
Forward and back,
Went drearily singing the chore-girl small,
Draping each hive with a shred of black.

Trembling, I listened: the summer sun
Had the chill of snow;
For I knew she was telling the bees of one
Gone on the journey we all must go!

And the song she was singing ever since
In my ear sounds on:—
“Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence!
Mistress Mary is dead and gone!”

In case of deaths, the beekeeper also wrapped the top of the hive with a piece of black fabric or crepe. If there was a wedding in the family, the hives were decorated and pieces of cake left outside so that the bees too could partake in the festivities. Newly-wed couples introduced themselves to the bees of the house, otherwise their married life was bound to be miserable.

If the bees were not “put into mourning”, terrible misfortunes befell the family and to the person who bought the hive. Victorian biologist, Margaret Warner Morley, in her book The Honey-Makers (1899), cites a case in Norfolk where a man purchased a hive of bees that had belonged to a man who had died. The previous owner had failed to put the bees into mourning when their master died, causing the bees to fall sick. When the new owner draped the hive with a black cloth, the bees regained their health. In another tale, an Oxfordshire family had seventeen hives when their keeper died. Because nobody told them about the death, every bee died. There are plenty of such tales in Morley’s book.

Telling the Bees, by Albert Fitch Bellows. circa 1882

The intimate relationship between bees and their keepers have led to all sorts of folklore. According to one it was bad luck to buy or sell hives, because when you sell one, you sell your luck with your bees. Instead, bees were bartered for or given as gifts. If bees flew into a house, a stranger would soon call. If they rested on a roof, good luck was on its way.

But the relationship between bees and humans goes beyond superstition. It’s a fact, that bees help humans survive. 70 of the top 100 crop species that feed 90% of the human population rely on bees for pollination. Without them, these plants would cease to exist and with it all animals that eat those plants. This will have a cascading effect that would ripple catastrophically up the food chain. Losing a beehive is much more than losing a supply of honey. The consequences are life threatening. The act of telling the bees emphasizes this deep connection humans share with the insect.

Οι μέλισσες σε ένα μεσαιωνικό έθιμο κηδείας

Οι μέλισσες στη μεσαιωνική Ευρώπη έχαιραν μεγάλης εκτίμησης κυρίως λόγω του μελιού τους και του κεριού τους. Χρησιμοποιούσαν το μέλι σαν γλυκαντική ουσία, σαν φάρμακο αλλά και σαν το κύριο συστατικό για το υδρόμελι –ένα ήπιο αλκοολούχο ποτό που το καταναλώνανε για τις θρεπτικές και επανορθωτικές του ιδιότητες. Το μελισσοκέρι παρείχε την καθαρότερης καύσης πηγή φωτός εκείνη την περίοδο η οποία ήταν πολύ απαραίτητη για τους σκοτεινούς κλειστούς χώρους. Ήταν άγραφος κανόνας τότε να διατηρούν μελίσσια σε μοναστήρια και αρχοντικά, όπου τα φρόντιζαν με ιδιαίτερο σεβασμό και τα θεωρούσαν μέρος της οικογένειας ή της κοινότητας.

Πίστευαν πως οι μέλισσες είχαν μια ιδιαίτερη νοημοσύνη σχετικά με τα μυστήρια του σύμπαντος. Για το λόγο αυτό, παρατηρούσαν τη συμπεριφορά τους από πολύ κοντά. Ένα σμήνος μελισσών ήταν αφορμή για προσοχή: αν συγκεντρώνονταν γύρω από ένα ξερό κλαδί κάποιος άνθρωπος θα πέθαινε. Αν πετούσαν μέσα στο σπίτι, ένας ξένος θα καλούσε σύντομα. Αν έμεναν πάνω στη στέγη ενός σπιτιού αυτό σήμαινε καλοτυχία. Η αμοιβαία σχέση μεταξύ των ανθρώπων και των μελισσών ήταν τόσο σημαντική που έπαιρναν τις δραστηριότητες των μελισσών πολύ στα σοβαρά. Με τη σειρά τους, εάν υπήρχε διαμάχη μέσα στην ανθρώπινη κοινότητα, οι μέλισσες θα σταματούσαν να παράγουν μέλι, θα πέθαιναν ή θα έφευγαν.

Για το λόγο αυτό, το «διάβασμα» των μελισσών έγινε μια παράδοση που παρακολουθήθηκε στενά. Οι μέλισσες ήταν ενημερωμένες για τα σημαντικά γεγονότα στη ζωή των κατόχων τους, όπως μακρινά ταξίδια, γεννήσεις, γάμοι και θάνατοι. Αν οι μέλισσες μετά την πληροφόρηση ενός θανάτου δεν έπεφταν σε πένθος, υπήρχε η πεποίθηση πως δεν θα ευδοκιμούσαν ή πως θα εγκατέλειπαν τις κυψέλες τους.

Το να βάλουν τις μέλισσες σε πένθος, με τον σωστό τρόπο, συχνά περιλάμβανε να σκεπάσουν τις κυψέλες με μαύρο κρεπ ύφασμα και να αφήσουν ένα κομμάτι από το ψωμί της κηδείας κοντά, ενώ παράλληλα τραγουδούσαν απαλά στις μέλισσες εξιστορώντας τους τι είχε συμβεί. Αυτά τα λυπητερά στιχάκια μεταφέρθηκαν από την Αγγλία στη Γερμανία και τελικά έφτασαν μέχρι τη Βόρεια Αμερική με την εποίκηση των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών.

Εξαιτίας αυτής της ζεστής και ιερής σχέσης μεταξύ των μελισσών και των κατόχων τους, θεωρείτο κακοτυχία να γίνει ανταλλαγή χρημάτων όταν έπαιρναν ένα μελίσσι. Αντίθετα, είτε το έκαναν ανταλλαγή είτε το δώριζαν. Αυτή η φιλοσοφία έχει μεταφερθεί και στο σήμερα αναφορικά με το θέμα της βιώσιμης εκμετάλλευσης των μελισσών, η οποία εξαρτάται από την προσφορά των μελισσών και όχι με τη ζήτηση των προϊόντων της.

 

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/04/the-adorable-custom-of-telling-bees.html

https://oreinomeli.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/%CE%BF%CE%B9-%CE%BC%CE%AD%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%83%CE%B5%CF%82-%CF%83%CE%B5-%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B1-%CE%BC%CE%B5%CF%83%CE%B1%CE%B9%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C-%CE%AD%CE%B8%CE%B9%CE%BC%CE%BF-%CE%BA%CE%B7/

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