The Heartland Bee Newsletter

October 2021 (13th edition)

Bee Spooky, Honey

Across the state, beekeepers are harvesting honey and preparing their hives for the dry season. Autumn is a time of reaping, and perhaps that's the reason it is associated with death.

Honey, though usually a symbol of prosperity, also has correlations with death.

In South America, carrion bees primarily scavenge meat and cure it into a substance resembling honey--it is even resistant to decay. They use it as a replacement for pollen in their diet, as they do not have adaptations for carrying pollen. Though grotesque, this pales in comparison to the creative ways humans have combined honey and corpses.

Scaphism was a cruel method of execution, first recorded by the Greeks. Victims were restrained between two boats, with head and limbs exposed. They were drenched in, and force fed, milk and honey, until their stomachs distended. They were then left to be tormented and consumed by the multitude of insects attracted to the saccharine anointing and resulting excretions. Death via this torturous process could take weeks.

The same qualities that make honey medicinally relevant also make it good embalming material. Ancient Chinese medical scholars outlined the process of self-mummification with honey, called mellification. This undertaking was a decision made in old age, to serve others as corpse medicine. The donor ceased consumption of anything except honey until death came. Their cadaver was then sealed in honey, and steeped for decades. The resulting concoction--a human mummy confection--was sold as an expensive cure for a variety of ailments.

With Thanksgiving looming on the horizon, this might be a good opportunity to be grateful for the death of such bizarre practices.