Beekeeping Information - A Historical Viewpoint

By Jean May
Having been a beekeeper for several years now and having come to appreciate the versatility of honey in cooking, as a general sweetener, and as a healthy replacement for sugar, I was intrigued to come across a passage in a book the other day which described how our ancestors tried to attract and keep a swarm of bees to their property.

Most people if they found a bee hive or swarm on their property today would be straight on to the local pest control operative but things could not have been more different in the past. Sugar cane did not reach Europe until the turn of the first Millenium and sugar did not come into widespread use until the development of the 'New World' sugar plantations in the later 1600's and 1700's.

Before this time honey was the only means to sweeten food, in fact it was so sought after that people could use it to pay rent and taxes! In addition to honey, propolis, the resin used by worker bees to construct the interior of the hive was greatly prized for use as a healing balm in the treatment of wounds. Beeswax was also used to make candles that burnt brighter and longer than the more common tallow variety made from mutton fat, with the added advantage of smelling a whole lot better too!

We are fortunate that beekeeping has provided us with a rare example of the continuity in many rural beliefs from our pagan past through to the Christian era in the form of what is essentially a reworking of a pagan incantation into a Christian prayer. The pagan form began with the instruction to take some earth and throw it with your right hand under your right foot and say: "I catch it under my foot, I have reclaimed it. Lo earth prevails over all creatures and over malice and over jealousy and over the spell of the powerful person". In both forms pebbles or gravel were then cast over the swarm, which to the medieval mind seemed to have the miraculous effect of making the swarm cluster on the ground, although we now understand that the worker bees are genetically programmed to act in this way should they detect a threat to the Queen.

The hopeful beekeeper then said, "Settle ye war-women, sink to the ground! Sit down, sit down, bee! St Mary commanded thee! Never should you, wild, to the wood fly." Later the Christian church replaced this verse with the prayer: "Thou shalt not escape me, nor go away from me, as is every man of food and home,Sit very still, await God's will".

In addition to having a great, healthy, and environmentally friendly hobby I now feel that my beekeeping connects me directly with those long gone generations of people in a way that the more traditional ' Great Events ' history we all learnt at school never did. Beekeeping for me has become much more than a great hobby and I am enjoying it even more. Maybe I should read more often!