The Heartland Bee Newsletter

August 2021 (11th edition)

The Old World and Honey Bees

In honor of National Honey Bee Day, we’d like to share some honey bee mythology and historical customs from around the world, starting with the earliest known:

Africa

• Egypt has the world's first definitive, recorded bee histories and rituals.

• "Egyptians linked bees to the maternity goddess Nut. The sky goddess Nut was thought to give birth to Ra, the sun god, every morning. Egyptian mythology attributed the origin of the honey bee to the tears Ra would cry. When Ra's tears fell on the ground, it was thought, honey bees emerged. Nut is the goddess responsible for music being used to encourage queen bees to emerge from their cells. Ancient Egyptian beekeepers knew that healthy hives swarmed, and they listened for the piping among queen and worker bees preceding a swarm. Because of Nut's role in the origin of bees, the ancient Egyptians made an analogy between maternal reproduction and swarming. In their word for "honey," ancient Egyptians used an image of Nut holding a reed, in effect, calling the swarm into the world."

• "Everything was collected from the hive, combs, pollen, honey, and any adhering bees, was put into each vessel with water. A piece of pith from the gourd Kigelia Africana, which carried the necessary yeast, was floated on top of the liquid and moved from one cask to the next. When all the honey was used up, the pith was dried on a hut rood and kept until the next honey harvest. Liquid in the vessels was bubbling away, and customers were served by dipping a [half gourd] into the brew..." (from Making a Beeline by Eva Crane)

• "[Beer is made] by placing comb in water and rubbing it by hand. After rubbing, the comb is set aside to be used for perfuming a hive. The solution is placed in a gourd, one with a wide mouth and a short neck to which fruit is added from the sausage tree muratina kigelia aethiopium as a fermenting agent. Gourds are allowed to stand in the sun, or near a fire, for twelve hours, and the liquid is ready to drink." (from Making a Beeline by Eva Crane)

India

• The Badagas had a honey goddess called Kunnimaara.

• Kama, the Indian god of love, flies with a bow whose string is made of bees.

• The traditional honeymoon night ritual involves smearing the bride’s genitals with honey while praying because “it is the second mouth of the creator: by that thou subduest all males, though unsubdued; by that thou art lively, and dost hold dominion."

Asia

• First continent to correlate honey bees with goddesses and icons (Artemis, Hannahanna, Hitam Manis).

• Catherine the Great provided much-needed political foundation for the beekeeping arts in Russia.

• On Leo Tolstoy: "The apiary has become the center of the world for him now, and everybody has to be interested exclusively with bees." Both Anna Karenina and War and Peace involve beekeepers or bee metaphors.

• Two southeast Asian tribes, the Abkhazians and the Ossetes, were renowned beekeepers. The Ossetes worshipped the bee goddess Meritta (known also as Merissa, or Mereime) and mother of the god of thunder.

• Iranian marriage tradition: "...we plunged our fingers in honey and suck one another's fingers to begin our married life on a sweet note."

• Turkey is home to some of the first gardeners, agriculturalists, and devotees of powerful female goddesses associated with honey bees.

• If somebody stole a swarm, they were fined as punishment.

• Male worshippers of Artemis were called "Essenes," which means "king bee."

• Artemis worshippers believed in regeneration, and thought honey bees could be begotten from bulls.

• "When the moody god of agriculture Telepinu would storm off in a huff over some petty disturbance, Hannahanna would dispatch her bee to sting his hands and feet, wipe his eyes and feet with wax and bring him back to put things right." (from The Honey Spinner by Grace Pundyk)

• Asia has the greatest diversity of honey bees and the most land mass for forage.

Europe

• Southern Europe was where gendered analogies between women and bees began to be a literary trope.

• Many Greek goddesses were associated with honey: Demeter, Artemis, Ceres, Hecate, Persephone, Aphrodite, Selene, and the nymphs, especially the naiads.

• The myth of a member of Demeter's cult, named Melissa, being made to have bees emerge from her torn body, along with the propensity of bees to nest in caves and tombs, factors into public perception about bees being the incarnation of a soul.

• Priestesses of Apollo, Demeter, and Artemis were known as "bees".

• "There are certain honey ones, sisters born—three virgins gifted with wings: their heads are besprinkled with white meal and the dwell under a ridge of Parnassus...From their home they fly now here, now there, feeding on honeycomb and bringing all things to pass. And when they are inspired through eating yellow honey, they are willing to speak truth; but if they be deprived of the gods' sweet food, then they speak falsely and swarm in and out together." (from The Homeric Hymn to Hermes)

• Greek marriage tradition: "It is customary for the bride to dip her finger into honey and make the sign of the cross before entering her new home. This gesture would bring her a sweet married life and good relationship with her mother-in-law."

• The Hebrew word Deborah means "bee," deriving from the word debash, "honey."

• Early Christian beekeeping methods involved cylindrical hives like those used by the Hittite, Egyptian, and Greek cultures.

• Early Christian Romans removed impurities from wax so that candles would burn clearly and art would reflect the colors of encaustic paints.

• Modern European beekeepers make a practice of telling their bees about significant events, such as a wedding or a funeral, lest they swarm or die from offense.

Unless otherwise noted, this information was found in Beeconomy by Tammy Horn.