Led Zeppelin beekeeping???

[Vergilius]

Any of you listened to "Stairway to Heaven"???

Well... One of the lines of that song is;

"If there's a bustle in your hedgerow don't be alarmed now, it's just a spring clean for the May Queen..."

Not a well know saying eh, possible reference to a swarm???


Ben P

PS On youtube there is a slightly spooky vid of this section of the song payed backwards... Strange hidden messages.

 

[Brosville]

It's a reference to Hawthorn (much used as hedging), also known as the May Tree. The may blossom appears on the tree at the beginning of May in the south of England, at the time of the Beltane or May Day celebrations, when people and houses were decked with may blossoms ("bringing home the May").

"These celebrations included a May Queen, representing the Goddess, and a Green May, representing the God and the spirit of the new vegetation. It was known as the "Merry Month" and folk went about "wearing the green", decking themselves in greenery and may blossom. Everywhere, everything is bursting with life and fertility at this time, and Beltane is a celebration of this potential. The cutting of the may blossom had great significance and symbolised the beginning of new life and the onset of the growing season"

All part of our rich pagan heritage..........

 

[psafloyd]

It's a reference to Hawthorn (much used as hedging), also known as the May Tree. The may blossom appears on the tree at the beginning of May in the south of England, at the time of the Beltane or May Day celebrations, when people and houses were decked with may blossoms ("bringing home the May").

These celebrations included a May Queen, representing the Goddess, and a Green May, representing the God and the spirit of the new vegetation. It was known as the "Merry Month" and folk went about "wearing the green", decking themselves in greenery and may blossom. Everywhere, everything is bursting with life and fertility at this time, and Beltane is a celebration of this potential. The cutting of the may blossom had great significance and symbolised the beginning of new life and the onset of the growing season.

All part of our rich pagan heritage..........

The true meaning of spring, not easter, which is a more recent imposition.

And Ben, if you've only just heard Led Zep, you need to do some studying. They were the subject of my second tweet of the day and I was listening to them this morning and just now on my way home.

 

[Chris B]

The true meaning of spring, not easter, which is a more recent imposition.

Not so sure about that. Easter celebrations we are all so familiar with predate Christianity. Rabbits and eggs sounds like just another angle on the spring fertility fest.

 

[Brosville]

-for someone discovering the music of the period there were many similar references - from Marc Bolan (T.Rex)

"Ride a white Swan"

Ride it on out like a bird in the skyway,
Ride it on out like you were a bird,
Fly it all out like an eagle in a sunbeam,
Ride it all out like you were a bird.

Wear a tall hat like the druids in the old days
Wear a tall hat and a tattered gown
Ride a white swan like the people of the Beltane,
Wear your hair long,babe,you can't go wrong.

Catch a bright star and place it on your forehead,
Say a few spells and baby,there you go,
Take a black cat and sit it on your shoulder,
And in the morning you'll know all you know

 

[Skyhook]

It's a reference to Hawthorn (much used as hedging), also known as the May Tree. The may blossom appears on the tree at the beginning of May in the south of England, at the time of the Beltane or May Day celebrations, when people and houses were decked with may blossoms ("bringing home the May").

"These celebrations included a May Queen, representing the Goddess, and a Green May, representing the God and the spirit of the new vegetation. It was known as the "Merry Month" and folk went about "wearing the green", decking themselves in greenery and may blossom. Everywhere, everything is bursting with life and fertility at this time, and Beltane is a celebration of this potential. The cutting of the may blossom had great significance and symbolised the beginning of new life and the onset of the growing season"

All part of our rich pagan heritage..........

The true meaning of spring, not easter, which is a more recent imposition.

No, I'm sorry, you're both wrong. 'Easter' is derived from 'Ostra' or 'Eastre', a norse or germanic goddess of spring and fertility- the May Queen, in fact. She comes back every year, and is welcomed by morris dancing and other fertility rites.

(PS- if you dont think morris dancing is a fertility rite, you're holding your stick wrong

 

[drstitson]

we may not yet have had any may queen activity in our hedgerows but at the weekend had to perform usual fending off of local priest doing his rounds of Benedictions for Pasqua (easter) - he blesses your house for 50 euro - easy money, especially as each apartment in a multi unit building needs a separate payment - perhaps watchdog could expose the practice!!!!

 

[Brosville]

Dunno how I can be "wrong", I didn't say anything about "easter" at all, just wittered about hawthorn, May Queens, Beltane and pagan traditions.......

In fact, what I said doesn't preclude there being a Norse or Germanic origin for the May Queen........... There are also suggestions that it may also be from "Maia, the Roman Goddess of Springtime, of Growth and Increase whose very name may be the root of "May"

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Best IPM Zepp song:
You Shook Me

Bees Most Disliked Zepp song:
Trampled Underfoot

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Gathering Hawthorn blossom is also the origin of the nursery rhyme "Here we go gathering nuts in May".
The original version is thought to have been "here we go gathering knots of May"

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ne'er cast a clout till The May is out

Speaking of Hawthorn we have loads here later in the year, and Blackthorn just coming.
Does anybody know if the nectaries are replenished. I've wondered that when the rain bashes the hell out of the open flowers.

 

[Haughton Honey]

Bees Most Disliked Zepp song:
Trampled Underfoot

Or Carouselambra............!!!

 

[keithgrimes]

Ne'er cast a clout till The May is out

Speaking of Hawthorn we have loads here later in the year, and Blackthorn just coming.
Does anybody know if the nectaries are replenished. I've wondered that when the rain bashes the hell out of the open flowers.

Some plants do replenish nectar to ensure pollination. Ivy does for example, but the hawthorn family don't.

 

[Skyhook]

Peter Gabriel...

Show me round your fruitcage
'cos I will be your honey bee

 

[margob99]

I suspect the "bustle in the hedgerow" might've been the more ... er ... ruder celebratory rituals of Beltane in the old days