“Telling the bees is a Western European tradition in which bees are told of important events, including deaths, births and marriages that affect the beekeeper. 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.
The custom is best known in England but has also been recorded across Europe and in the United States.
Humans have been harvesting honey from honeybees since the dawn of our evolution and bees have been revered in all forms of religion across the world from the very beginning of civilisation.
Many religions including the ancient Egyptians revered honeybees as messengers from the gods, and closer to home in Celtic mythology, honeybees were regarded as messengers between our world and the spirit realm.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, the Royal Beekeeper, John Chapple, informed the bees of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House of her passing.“
(Text and pictures from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and https://beegood.co.uk )
It is a strange coincidence that my experiences of attending the funerals of friends and relatives that lead to me wanting to become a funeral celebrant, coincided with my journey into beekeeping.
Beekeeping at its best is a calm, quiet and wonderful experience, a chance to work with nature by checking the colony for stores, space, disease and other issues that affect the bees, and then doing what I can to keep them stay healthy and happy, and in return they provide me with a link to the natural world, and then towards the end of the summer they gift us honey.
I talk to my bees as I approach the hive to let them know I’m coming, and then talk to them all the way through the inspection to let them know what I am doing and to tell them if they are doing well, of if they need to draw more comb or bring in more stores. I also tell them about my week just gone and what I have planned for the next week, they seldom interrupt or argue, they are good listeners and can keep a secret!
So, in many ways, I like many other beekeepers, are keeping the tradition of ‘telling the bees’ alive, but not because we feel we have to, but because it seems like the most natural thing to do. And if the bees are indeed messengers to the gods and a conduit to the other realm, well, that’s just an added bonus.
Lisa Davis 
