Folklore & festivals, and local legends/words

[hugh1201]

Hello there,
Hope everyone is looking forward to a wonderful Christmas!
Bit of a strange one, but I'm trying to collect local dialect words and local traditions to do with honey, bees and beekeeping from across the UK. The more esoteric the better, whether that's local recipes or what not. It is for a 'folk food' project that I'm working on.

Thanks!

 

[Wilco]

Telling the bees of any major news or family info.. For example a few people on here told their bees when HM Elizabeth II passed.

I may be wrong but have often wondered if there are any links between bees and fairies - the little folk.

 

[hugh1201]

Telling the bees of any major news or family info.. For example a few people on here told their bees when HM Elizabeth II passed.

I may be wrong but have often wondered if there are any links between bees and fairies - the little folk.

Yes, of course! Reminds me of the passage in Lark Rise to Candleford when the bees are told of a death!

 

[Paulypaul]

I know it was common for a new beekeeper who had taken over management of bees to tap on the side of each hive and tell them that he was now their new master.
I did it with 3 colonies I took over earlier this year. I don't think they took any notice.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes, of course! Reminds me of the passage in Lark Rise to Candleford when the bees are told of a death!

Any important news. Bees talk to each other. I told mine when Hachi died so they could pass on my sadness to his
Just in case Mrs Hachi hadn’t told them.

 

[Erichalfbee]

There’s more here
https://www.beepods.com/bee-folklore-for-dark-days/

 

[Erichalfbee]

I may be wrong but have often wondered if there are any links between bees and fairies - the little folk.

And the dead.

 

[Mint Bee]

Telling the bees of any major news or family info.. For example a few people on here told their bees when HM Elizabeth II passed.

I may be wrong but have often wondered if there are any links between bees and fairies - the little folk.

plenty of beekeepers that 'are away with the fairies' if that's what you mean

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

a few people on here told their bees when HM Elizabeth II passed.

I only disturb them when I have important news to tell them.
I went down to Garn Cottage to tell the bees that Mrs Tiddy had died as I knew she went down to the orchard to check on them, especially after any bad weather. Told my bees when Hachi went as although he'd never met them, I considered him a friends, the same when we lost Ricky Wilson as his queens were the foundation of my apiaries.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Settling a swarm by means of banging a tin drum
One of my threads I thought might of been of interest.

 

[Wilco]

And the dead.

Will have to look into that one.

 

[Ely]

I talk to mine just to air my thoughts on a winters day. They tend to show more interest than my wife.

 

[Garry R]

I talk to mine just to air my thoughts on a winters day. They tend to show more interest than my wife.

I tend to talk to them in a kindly way (but it's not necessarily what I'm thinking depending what I find what they have done!!)

 

[Vanterrier]

I tend to talk to them in a kindly way (but it's not necessarily what I'm thinking depending what I find what they have done!!)

The bees or the wife?
K

 

[Garry R]

The bees or the wife?
K

Learning from experiences with the bees - the wife!

 

[fian]

Well, in Galicia there is a tradition, which is no longer practiced, and which relates the dead to bees.
At wakes, a chorus of people with hands clasped performed a dance and made a humming sound around the deceased.
Thus the language dictionary includes the term "abellon" (it can refer to the bee drone, the bumblebee or the European hornet) as a synonym for wake.