*http://www.witchschool.com/profiles/blogs/animal-symbolism-of-honey-bees*
*Bee Superstitions:*
If a bee enters your home, it's a sign that you will soon have a visitor. If
you kill the bee, you will have bad luck, or the visitor will be unpleasant.
Bees have often been regarded as wise and even holy insects, having
foreknowledge as well as knowledge of many secret matters.
In antiquity they were sometimes divine messengers, and their constant
humming was believed to be a hymn of praise.
Because of their status it is still considered unlucky in some places to
kill a bee.
In the Celtic cultures, bees were said to have a secret wisdom that came
directly from the Otherworlds.
Bees were once considered to deliberately sting those who swore in front of
them, and also to attack an adulterer or unchaste person; it was once held
to be a sure sign that a girl was a virgin if she could walk through a swarm
of bees without being stung.
There is believed to be a very strong link between bees and their keepers;
bees cannot prosper in an atmosphere of anger or hatred, and will either
pine away and die, or fly away.
There is still a common belief that bees should be told about deaths that
occur in the beekeeper's family; in past times this was extended to include
every birth, marriage or other notable event in the life of the family. It
was especially important to inform the bees of the death of their owner;
traditionally this was done by the eldest son or widow of the owner, who
would strike each hive three times with the door key and say 'The master is
dead!’ If the procedure was not followed, the bees would die or fly away. (In
a later century they do not die, but the hives must be turned round.) In
many districts the hives were put into mourning by having black crepe draped
around them, and at the funeral feast sugar or small amounts of the food
eaten by the mourners were brought out for the bees.
An old country tradition states that bees should not be purchased for money,
as bought bees will never prosper. It is acceptable to barter goods of the
same value in exchange for bees, and in some districts gold was an
acceptable form of payment. A borrowed swarm or one given freely is more
likely to do well; a stock of bees was often started from a borrowed swarm
on the understanding that it would be returned if the giver was ever in need
of it.
*Bees should never be moved from one place to another without being told
beforehand.*
Bee-stings were once thought to prevent rheumatism, and in some places a
bee-sting was also thought to cure it.
*Bees can tell whether a girl is pure or not, and that any girl whose family
has a hive and who is about to be married should inform the bees before
doing so if she wants a long and happy marriage. She must go to the hive and
whisper quietly, 'Little *
--
Juanse Barros J.
APIZUR S.A.
Carrera 695
Gorbea - CHILE
+56-45-271693
08-3613310
http://apiaraucania.blogspot.com/
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