September 7, 2018 | Arizona Bee Removal, Bee Behavior, Bee Tips, Honey Bees, Live Swarm Relocation
The Bee Friend, by Hans Thoma, 1863/1864 Wikimedia
Everywhere we go we find that people are fascinated by honeybees and their folklore and traditions.
What do John Greenleaf Whittier and bees have in common? This poem published in the Atlantic in 1858, which tells of the folk tradition common in New England of “Telling the Bees”.
This usually involved notifying the insects of a death in the family—so that the bees could share in the mourning. The message was delivered to the hives, either whispered or sung in song. If the bees began to hum after they received the news, it was considered a good omen.
“Unhappy events were not the only occasions that the bees were invited to participate in. In the case of weddings, the little workers were to be informed of the event, and receive a bit of wedding cake. The hives were sometimes adorned with flowers to celebrate the proceedings.”
We agree that this concept of delivering important information to the bees implies that there is a special relationship that exists between honeybees and humans that is essential to maintain.
Read more in this informative article at: https://daily.jstor.org/telling-the-bees/