Some Curious Old Customs

Old customs and beliefs give way slowly before the changes that come with education and better understanding of the relation of cause and effect. There are few spheres of human activity to which cling so many of these queer old customs. Some of them still persist, such as the ringing of bells and the beating of pans when the bees swarm, long after most common superstitions have subsided.

A curious custom which seems to have survived from ancient times in rural England and perhaps some other countries is that of telling the bees when a death occurs. It was not so long ago that this custom was quite general here in America, although it is seldom heard of now except in remote back country districts.

Whittier wrote a poem "Telling the Bees, " which nicely describes the ancient custom. The following extracts from it relate how the chore girl moved among the hives singing:

"Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence!

Mistress Mary is Dead and Gone. "

Draping the hives in black as a sign of mourning was commonly practiced in this connection:

"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. "

Those superstitious ones who believe that the bees must be told, insist that otherwise the insects will also die or desert their hives. In old books, there are numerous instances mentioned where events seemed to prove the necessity of telling the bees. In some English neighborhoods it is said that every hive belonging to the departed is turned around at the time the corpse is being carried from the house. The origin of such a curious custom is hard to explain.

In some neighborhoods in the mountains of our own southern states, it is thought to bring bad luck to count the hives or to sell them for coin. In some localities they move all the hives on Washington's birthday to ward off misfortune.

In some European countries, it is said that the bees are told of happy events as well as dire ones and that they are included in wedding festivities, although no such customs prevail in America. According to Margaret Morley, it is the custom to decorate the beehives with scarlet cloth at the wed ding to prevent the bees leaving because they are not included in the rejoicings.

There is a German belief that three is a lucky number of hives with which to begin and that one prospers most by the purchase of the first swarm, having the second one given him and finding the third.

It is difficult to discover the origin of the custom of making a noise when the bees swarm. It would seem that the practice might well be the result of old laws in some European countries which require the owner to make a great noise when the bees swarmed in order to notify the neighbors of the fact and thus permit him to follow the bees if they clustered on the land of another and so regain his property.

Straw skep formerly used in place of a hive.

However, Aristotle refers to the practice as follows:

"Bees also appear to have pleasure in noises, so that they say that they collect them into their hives by striking earthern vessels and making noises. "

He followed the statement with the expression of a doubt as to whether the bees could hear and if they do is uncertain whether they collect together rather from pleasure or fear. In any case we find the practice has continued from ancient times and it has probably been ascribed to various reasons at different periods of time.

Some Ancient Beliefs And Customs

Honey held a very important place in the early affairs of mankind. Not only does the Bible contain frequent references to honey, but the literature of India, Egypt, Greece and other early civilizations have much concerning it. In the old Hindu references, we find that the product of the hive was supposed to provide not only wealth but strength, good fortune, knowledge and offspring to man.

Honey was used in connection with the ceremonies attending the birth of a child. Before other people were permitted to touch him, the father gave the baby a mixture of butter and honey from a gold spoon with these words or something similar:

"I administer to you the wisdom of honey, of butter, raised by Savitri the bountiful, long-living, protected by the Gods, live a hundred autumns in this world. "

At the age of six months another ceremony for feeding the child solid food is performed. Various foods are mixed with honey, milk and butter and given with this supplication:

"Lord of food, give us food painless and strong; bring forth the giver; bestow power on us, on men and animals. "

Similar rituals are common for various occasions as when a young man begins the building of his house, or the respectful reception of a guest and numerous other times. When the young man reaches the sixteenth year there is a ceremony for the cutting of the beard at which time the youth takes a vow to abstain from honey and flesh for a year.

It is a bit bewildering for a westerner to read translations of the Hindu literature and try to understand the numerous Gods and Demi-Gods and the things they signify to the Hindu people. However, one cannot but be impressed with the part that honey plays in their ceremonials and the relation which the bee seems to sustain to their religion, mythology and everyday customs. The bee appears to be a symbol of birth on earth and this is perhaps sufficient reason for the general use of honey at bridal ceremonies and at birth.

The God of love is assisted by the bees in the affairs of his delicate office and the king is permitted to collect from his subjects as taxes, one sixth of the honey they secure. At death, one who has stolen honey is supposed to become a gadfly. By giving honey or oil and clarified honey, the pious man becomes exempt from the effects of disease, while honey is regarded as an aid to beauty.

It will thus be seen that honey and bees were closely related to every human activity among the Hindus of old.

Although, perhaps, India has a closer relationship with the bees than the people of other countries, still we find a vast literature concerning them in Greece and Italy, Egypt and the East. Bees and honey have held a high place in human affairs since the dawn of history and it is only since manufactured sugar has replaced honey to a large extent as an article of diet that we find a decline in interest.