Telling the Bees

by heathervescent

Did you know that when someone passed away, it was a standard practice to send a child out to the bee hives and tell the bees of the passing?

According to folklore belief, bees had the ability to take messages from people who were living to those already in the spirit world. The telling of the bees was a way to prepare the way for the newly deceased.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, California currently has an exhibit that displays and explains this and other beliefs.

What do you think? Folklore superstition or actual practice?

| 02/26/06 | Practices

I think this is crazy. I don't think bees can take messages to the dead. They're dead!

Comments

Sweet thought! Gotta love those bees! What a nice little story. Whoever decided this might be able to come about probably spent a great deal of time around bees. When I was in elementary school, I used to take the path home that took me through the fields, just so I could walk through the weeds as high as my shoulders. That way the bees could land all over me as I walked the three blocks where the weeds were, on my way home. The bees would simply land on me and then fly off. It was a wonderful and ethereal feeling that made me feel one with nature. I realized then that the bees could sense my love of them -- they would also have sensed my fear, which is probably why so many people who are afraid fear bees.

The little story you've told seems to come from a time and place where people were closer to nature. However, we, over time, have found that so many creatures can sense emotions and this fact would make it impossible to go to all those creatures to talk to the dead. I have wild birds that seem very tame -- sure wish this tale were true; I'd talk to them about perparing for the newly dead -- it might even be a louder message!

This message probably comes real late; but it's fun to think about.