Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1876-02-11
Superstition About Bees.

There are numerous superstitions con-
nected with bees, which there is reason to
think are relics of this savage state of
thought, when all that existed existed un
der the same conditions as man himself,
capable of the same feelings, and subject
to the same wants and sorrows. For bees
are credited with perfect comprehension
of all that men do and utter, and, as men,
bers themselves of the family they belong
to, they must be treated in every way as
human in their emotions. French chill
dren are taught that the inmates OF the
hive will come out to sting them for any
bad language uttered within their hear
ing, and many of our readers have proba-
bly, at some time of their lives, on seeing
a crape-covered hive, learned on inquiry
that the bees were in mourning for some
member of their owners family. In Suf-
folk, when death occurs in house,
they Immediately inform the bees, ask
them formally to the funeral, and fix
Grape on their hives; otherwise it is be-
lieved they would die or desert. And the
same custom for the same reason prevails,
with local notifications, not only in near.
ly every English county, but very widely
over the continent. In Normandy and
Brittany may be seen, as 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 have read of Devonshire nurse
on her way to 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
that they originated long ago with the
death or flight of some bees, consequent
on the neglect they incurred when the
hand that once tended them could
do so no longer. Yet wider survey
of analogous facts leads to the eXpla-
nation above suggested; for not to dwell
on the fact that in some places in
England they are informed of weddings
as we'll as of funerals, and their hives are
decorated with favOrs as well as with
crane, the practice of giving information
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 rat
Ting of bunch of keys, and the same
custom is reported from hartford, in Kent.
In the North Riding, not long since, q
farmer gravely attributed the loss of a
cow to his not having told it of his wife's
death In Cornwall the indoor plants are
often put into mourning as we'll as the
hives, and at Rauen, in North Germany,
not only are the bees informed of their
masters death, but the trees also, by
means of shaking them. Near Speier,
not only must the bees be moved, but the
wine and vinegar must he shaken, if it is
wished that they shall not turn bad. Near
Wurtemburg, the vinegar must be shaken,
the bird cage hung differently, the cattle
tied up differently, and the beehive
Tansposed. Near Ausbach the flower
pots must also be moved, and the wine
casks knocked three times; while at
Gernsheim, not only must the wine in the
cellar be shaken to prevent turning sour,
but the corn in the loft must be moved if
the sown corn is to sprout. But all these
customs are too much aliketo be unrelated,
and too widely spread to have sprung up
without some reason, by some mere Ca
price or coincidence, and it is difficult to
suggest any other reason for them than
that they go back to a time when rot only
bees and cattle, but trees and flowers, vim
egar and wine, were, like human beings,
considered liable to take offense, and their
spirits accordingly to be paciied by kind
treatment, since, according as their sew
eral temperaments predispOsed them, they
were able, by DESERVING, dying, turning
sour, or other untOward conduct, to resent
neglect or disrespect on the part OF their
owners. -C0rnhsH Magazine.