183: Telling the Bees
Brain Junk
English - October 05, 2021 08:45 - 4 minutes - 4.52 MB - ★★★★★ - 33 ratingsNatural Sciences Science Society & Culture Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
The last episode with wonky sound. We got all the bugs out. (get it...bugs. cause its an episode about bees. *nudges in dad joke*
Many cultures have long believed the humble honeybee was more than just a honey-making factory. It was thought those little bees might also be messengers to the Gods. The bee's important position in society as providers of food and medicine made them more than mere livestock. It became tradition to tell them when important life events occurred.
US poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote Telling the Bees in 1858:
Went drearily singing the chore-girl small,
Draping each hive with a shred of black.
Trembling, I listened: the summer sun
Had the chill of snow;
For I knew she was telling the bees of one
Gone on the journey we all must go!
Painting: The Widow by Charles Napier Hemy 1895