Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-02-24
Superstition About Bees.

There are numerous superstitions
connected with bees, which there is
reason to think are reli of this savage
state of thought, when all that existed
existed under the same conditions as
man himself. capable of the same feel
ings, and subject to the Same wants and
sorrows. For bees are credited with
perfect comprehension of all that men
do and utter, and, as members them
selves of the family they belong to,
they must be treated in every way as
human in their emotions. French
children are taught that the inmates
of the hive will come out to sting them
| for any bad language uttered within
! their hearing, and many of our readers
have probable at some time of their
lives, on seeing crape-covered hive,
+ learned on inquiry that the bees were
in mourning Tor some member of their
owners family. In Suff TX, when a
death occurs III :. kuu~s., they lmine-
diately INFORM The bees, ask them
! formally TO the funeral, and fix Grape
on their hives; otherwise it is believed
! they would die or desert. And the
isame custom for the same reason pre-
walls, with local notifications, not on
ly III nearly every English county, but
very widely over the contiLent. In
Normandy and Brittany may be seen,
las in England, the crape-set hives; in
Yorkshire some of the funeral bread,
in Lincolnshire some cake and sugar
may be seen at the hive door; and we
thaVe read of Devonshire nurse on
her way to a funeral sending back a
child TO perform the duty she herself
had forgotten, of telling the bees. The
usual explanation of these customs and
ideas is tnat they originated long ago
( iih the death or flight of some bees,
consequent on the neglect they incurred
When the hand that once tended them
could do 50 no longer. Yet wider
Survey OF analogous facts leads to the
leXplanati0n above suggested; for not tC
dwell on the fact that in some places il
England they are informed of wed
dingS as well as of funerals, and theiI
hives are decorated with favOrs as well
AS with Grape, the practice of giving in
formation of deaths extends in some
parts not only to other animals as well
, but, in addition, to inanimate things.
In Lithuania, deaths are announced
not only to the bees, but to horses and
cattle, by the rafting of bunch o
r keys, and the same custom is reported
from hartford, in Kent. In the North
Riding, not long since, farmer grave
|. ly attributed the loss of cow to hi
not having told it of his wife's death
In Cornwall the indoor plants are Otter
/ put into mourning as well as the hives
and at Rauen, in North Germany, moi
only are the bees infoI med of theil
: masters death, but the trees also, BY
means of shaking them. Near Speier
not only must the bees be shaken, if il
, is wished that they shall not turn bad
Near Wurtemburg, the vinegar mus
be shaken, the bid-cage hung different
ly, and the beehive transposed. Neal
Ausbach the fiower-pots must also be
moved, and the wine-casks knocked
three limeS; while at Gernsheim, moi
only must the wine In the cellar be
shaken to prevent it turning sour, but
the corn in the loft must be moved il
the sOwn corn is to sprOut. But all
these customs are too much alike to be
unrelated, and too widely spread to
Lave sprung up without some reason,
by some mere caprice or coincidence,
and it is difficult to suggest any other
reason for them than that they 20 back
to time when not only bees and cat
tie, but trees and flowers, vinegar and
wine, were, like human beings, consid-
cred liable to take offense, and their
Ispirits accordingly to be pacified by
kind treatment, since, according as
their several tempOraments prsdispos-
ed them, they were able, by deserting,
dying, turning sour, or other untoward
-conduct, to resent neglect or disrespect
on the part of their owners.-[Cornhill
Magazine.