Telling the bees....I've never heard of this.

[Heartstrings]

Telling the bees...
“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 losses 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”.

“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.

“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”.

“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 can have a cascading effect that would ripple catastrophically up the food chain.

“Losing a beehive is much worse 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.”

~ Excerpt from https://www.amusingplanet.com/.../the-adorable-custom-of...



Art: The Bee Friend, a painting by Hans Thoma (1839–1924)

[LakeArenal]

1. BeeBest.

[soothsayer]

7. Ha

[calimary]

24. There! LakeArenal just fixed it for ya, Melania.

And I didn’t even address you as Balonia or Maligna or any of that, this time.

Strictly out of respect to the bees.

[sazemisery]

2. Link not working but I found it!

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

[First Speaker]

3. My grandfather's family did this in Maine when he was young...

...his family kept bees--this was around 1900-10--and they did this exact thing. The tradition must have hopped over the Atlantic.

[dchill]

4. Couldn't they just text the bees?

[KS Toronado]

13. Nope, they have no phones, only Mac Laptops

[GeoWilliam750]

33. Because Macs form on Apple trees

From Apple blossoms?

[KS Toronado]

34. Only after pollination of course.

[getagrip_already]

5. They are very good listeners.....

But it is also a new england custom. My family knows to tell the bees if I die......

[soothsayer]

6. Cool, the original Bee FF! Saw this related stuff this morning

Link to tweet

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Link to tweet

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Link to tweet

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Link to tweet

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Link to tweet

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Link to tweet

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@Stargaze_Fox
·
May 20, 2021
Replying to @Stargaze_Fox
Andean cosmology centers around “Ayni” or living in balance with nature. The Q’ero people live in a harsh terrain and thus they strive to always be grateful to the land, the elements, the animals, for providing.

Gab
@Stargaze_Fox
The most important part of any relationship they establish with the land/elements/stars, is to always be grateful for what they provide and to always have a system of reciprocity.

They do festivals every year to thank their animals, the land, their gods, always making sure to be grateful and making an offering before asking for anything.

Gab
@Stargaze_Fox
Oftentimes I see people take and take from other humans, entities, the land, etc, without giving anything back. We have gotten so used to participate in a one way relationship that we forget to stop and thank the land, the spirits, others for what they have given us.

e_Fox
Also, in Andean cosmology, humans, plants, and animals are all seen as being part of the same ecosystem. We all have a purpose in this world and are here to support one another. This idea that humans are somewhat better than plants or animals is nonexistent.

Gab
@Stargaze_Fox
However, unlike animals and plants, humans were gifted with the awareness to give thanks and make offerings. We have the power to establish balance. This is our gift and thus OUR RESPONSIBILITY to not misuse this.
4:09 PM · May 20, 2021

So how can you utilize your gift in a responsible way? Start small, by thanking the land for the food you are eating. By leaving a small offering before you pick a flower. By picking up trash when you go on a walk. By thanking your guides BEFORE you ask anything

Gab
@Stargaze_Fox
Get comfortable in this idea of reciprocity!

One of the best ways to connect with the land, is by learning about the flora and fauna of your region. Oftentimes we become fascinated by a plant or animal that isn’t local to our environment. Start learning about the ones in your area! Research about them

Gab
@Stargaze_Fox
Go out into your yard and introduce yourself to the land! Tell it your name and your story and leave a small offering. Converse with it like you are talking to a friend. Sitting and meditating is fine, but talking, singing and telling them about you are also beautiful offerings

I have a tree friend I give simple offerings every month, but you can choose to give yours at any time of the month/day. Speak directly to the land and ask it exactly what it would prefer

Gab
@Stargaze_Fox
What are some ways you can engage with your local land and help restore some balance?

[yonder]

17. Thank you for this.

This stood out for me:

Oftentimes I see people take and take from other humans, entities, the land, etc, without giving anything back. We have gotten so used to participate in a one way relationship that we forget to stop and thank the land, the spirits, others for what they have given us.

Too often we rely on only one medium of exchange with no heed given to how we arrived to be able to exchange in the first place.

[calimary]

27. Gardening! That would be - and IS - a great way to engage.

It can get really meditative, working the soul (an autocorrect - I meant soil! But sheesh, it works either way, quite literally!!!), planting, weeding, adding nutrients and mulch and other “beneficials”. The time it takes out there in the garden, simple work with your hands and little green shoots. Fabulous exercise amid the music of birds chirping - and yes, the random buzzing of a nearby bee.

You connect with little bugs, earthworms - one of our greatest friends and coworkers. You get to see it up close. With all the little practitioners and support crews of nature. The ant trails, heck - even the moles and gophers. I see their tunnels in my garden. They evidently like tulip bulbs but not daffodils so I gave up on the tulips (sacrificed to the critters who need to eat, too, after all!),and everything else was left untouched, and grew back in the spring!

Gardening turns out to be therapy for me. And the visual results certainly can’t be beat!

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I had heard of this custom before, but I never knew the history behind it. How interesting.

[Bayard]

9. The responding posts

Sound a good bit like Native American traditions and philosophies.

I had never heard of talking to bees. The only communication I've ever had with them involved 4-letter words. Well.....wasps, not honey bees.

[Duppers]

14. Sounds "like Native American traditions....

...and philosophies." Very much so, in showing respect and gratitude to nature - the land and its inhabitants.



Astute observation, Bayard!

[jcgoldie]

10. My bees dont understand english

I have about 20 hives and very fond of them but I never got the impression theyd miss me very much nor anyone else in the house for that matter...

Now my dairy goats on the other hand would be devastated!

[SergeStorms]

11. Fascinating.

I'd never heard of that tradition, and I have relatives in the U.K. I'll have to quiz them on it.

[dameatball]

12. I never, ever know what I am going to learn in this joint. But it's always something unexpected.

[SLClarke]

15. Of course ..

I still do this. However, not having a beehive, I have to find a bumblebee amongst the flowers, welcome it, and then tell it the latest news. Very calming and satisfying.

[AwakeAtLast]

16. The next Outlander book

Is titled "Go Tell The Bees That I am Gone". It will be out in November, but she has been writing it for 4-5 years.

ETA: She being Diana Gabaldon, the author.

[Collimator]

22. Diana Gabaldon's Last Book:

Written In My Own Heart's Blood was only a little over 800 pages long. Others in the series have weighed in at over 1100 pages. Sure hope she doesn't phone it in like she did last time.

[AwakeAtLast]

26. I think the first book was the shortest one

I liked them all in their own separate ways.

[Hekate]

18. I knew the tradition from John Greenleaf Whittier's poem of the same name...

Thanks for your fun post! Terry Pratchett riffed on bee-lore in his Discworld books. Sherlock Holmes is said to have retired to the countryside to be an apiarist. Sacred bee-mythology exists from India, Greece, throughout Europe, and the British Isles.

Telling the Bees

BY JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER
Here is the place; right over the hill
Runs the path I took;
You can see the gap in the old wall still,
And the stepping-stones in the shallow brook.

There is the house, with the gate red-barred,
And the poplars tall;
And the barn’s brown length, and the cattle-yard,
And the white horns tossing above the wall.

There are the beehives ranged in the sun;
And down by the brink
Of the brook are her poor flowers, weed-o’errun,
Pansy and daffodil, rose and pink.

A year has gone, as the tortoise goes,
Heavy and slow;
And the same rose blows, and the same sun glows,
And the same brook sings of a year ago.

There ’s the same sweet clover-smell in the breeze;
And the June sun warm
Tangles his wings of fire in the trees,
Setting, as then, over Fernside farm.

I mind me how with a lover’s care
From my Sunday coat
I brushed off the burrs, and smoothed my hair,
And cooled at the brookside my brow and throat.

Since we parted, a month had passed,—
To love, a year;
Down through the beeches I looked at last
On the little red gate and the well-sweep near.

I can see it all now,—the slantwise rain
Of light through the leaves,
The sundown’s blaze on her window-pane,
The bloom of her roses under the eaves.

Just the same as a month before,—
The house and the trees,
The barn’s brown gable, the vine by the door,—
Nothing changed but the hives of 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!

Then I said to myself, “My Mary weeps
For the dead to-day:
Haply her blind old grandsire sleeps
The fret and the pain of his age away.”

But her dog whined low; on the doorway sill,
With his cane to his chin,
The old man sat; and the chore-girl still
Sung to the bees stealing out and in.

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!”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45491/telling-the-bees

[eppur_se_muova]

32. Without that context, I think I would have found that poem all but incomprehensible. nt

[yonder]

19. Great post and like many others have said,

this is a tradition I've never before heard of.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

20. My grandfather kept beehives, but I don't think...

... he ever spoke to them.

He never wore protective clothing around them, though, and rarely ever got stung. Blew some smoke on them if they seemed rowdy.

[TygrBright]

21. Always done this.

And my Grandpere taught us it must be finished up with a little dance - bounce three times on each foot, turn once clockwise, once counter-clockwise, and finish with a bow.

And always address the bees respectfully.

To this day when I go into the garden and find bees in my blossoms, I always murmure "welcome, noble bees, and bless this garden."

Makes me feel good.

whimsically,
Bright

[I_UndergroundPanther]

30. I love the honeybees

One time I found one honey bee clinging to the screen door of my house.

He didn't act like he was well. Lethargic slow, disoriented.

I gently took him off the screen,placed him among the plants on the porch.He was too messed up to even try to sting me.

I went inside and mixed up some honey,sugar and water and gave it to him on the tip of my finger. He drank it up,he held my finger with his little bee feet.

It was adorable.

And I waited.
In about 15 minutes he seemed better. He crawled on my hand.

I lifted up my hand to watch him.

Soon he was moving like an awake bee. He tried his wings from the crest of my knuckle a few times.

Than he took off flew around my head three times and flew away.

I think the flying around my head was his way of saying thanks. I yelled after him take care of yourself bee,and thank you.

This happened like 6 years ago.

I hope his colony is still around.

Nowadays I rarely see bees working the clover blooms anymore.

When I was a kid bees were everywhere and I was aware of them because I always went barefoot outside.

It's eerie seeing the clover blooms all over the place without bees. I look for bees when I pass the clover and this year I have seen no bees working clover yet. It's freaking past mid May and I haven't seen one bee yet.

Kinda scary.

[TygrBright]

31. Honeybees have one of the longest relationships with the human species.

Probably as long as with dogs... although bees are not actually domesticated, they are probably somewhere between symbiotes and commensals.

thoughtfully,
Bright

[Harker]

23. Pick your confidants carefully.

[dixiegrrrrl]

28. Thank you for that lovely interlude.

My G'ma had the these records, along with related groups, and I loved them way back then, as now.

[Harker]

29. I love these guys... Drifters, Flamingos, Mills Bros., etc.

I'm delighted that you enjoyed hearing them again.

Some music ripens as it ages.

[Cryptoad]

25. This is referenced ,,,,,

in the first episode of "Midsumer Murders" on BritBox streaming

[mopinko]

35. i read about this last year, and def do it now.

i have a patch of spearmint beside a table and chairs, and that is my spot to just sit.
maybe it's the plague, or maybe i'm getting old but i find myself talking to myself. and my animals. i like it.

looking forward to chatting w my bees.
i have a lot to tell them.

[burrowowl]

36. Fascinating thread