Informing The Bees

In a long-standing Western European tradition, the bees must be told of important events in the lives of their owners. Things such as deaths, births, marriages, and departures and returns in the keeper’s household. It is believed that the bees need to go through a mourning process to keep them emotionally healthy. If this practice was omitted or forgotten, and the bees were not “put into mourning,” then it was believed a penalty would be paid, such as the bees leaving their hive, stopping the production of honey, or even dying. Such a thing seems strange to anyone who has never had anything to do with bees, but who knows. Maybe they know, just like a dog or a cat knows their owner is gone. Best known in England, the practice has also been recorded in Ireland, Wales, Germany, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Bohemia (now Czechia) and the United States.

It is unknown how this practice got started, or where it stared exactly, but unfounded speculation has it that it is loosely derived from or perhaps inspired by ancient Aegean notions about bees’ ability to bridge the natural world and the afterlife. There were many notions that people of ancient times believed, so I suppose this could be one of them.

The whole practice has a number of strange parts to it and probably came from superstition. Apparently, it is tradition to give a piece of wedding cake or a funeral biscuit to the bees at wedding and funerals. This is done to inform the bees at the same time of the name of the party married or dead. Apparently, if the bees do not know about the marriage, they become very irate, and sting everybody within their reach. If they are ignorant of the death, they become sick, and many of them die. That might possibly speak to something similar to a pet losing its master. In the case of a death, it would inform them of a new owner. Again, this reminds me of a pet mourning an owner, even when they are shown love by the new owner. Animals can show love, maybe bees can too.

The practice even extends to the royal family. After the passing of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, the Royal Beekeeper, John Chapple, went out to inform the bees of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House of her passing and the accession of King Charles III. There is a proper process for informing the bees. According to Chapple, “You knock on each hive and say, “The mistress is dead, but don’t you go. Your master will be a good master to you.” Often the hive is also given a black sash for mourning. The purpose of all this is to ensure the health of the bees and the continuation of their honey production. It’s a strange, but interesting tradition.