Telling the bees

Common card · No. 316663

Telling the bees is a Western European tradition in which bees are told of important events, including deaths, births, marriages, departures and returns in the keeper's household. The custom is known in England, Ireland, Wales, Germany, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Bohemia (now in Czechia), as well as parts of the United States. In New England, if the custom was omitted or forgotten and the bees were not "put into mourning," then it was believed a penalty would be paid, such as the bees leaving their hive, stopping the production of honey, or dying.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Charles Napier Hemy, Public domain