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kittiwakeChrist, there is a swarm of bees outside,
Fly hither, my little cattle,
In blest peace, in God's protection,
Come home safe and sound!
This book is about every-day life in Anglo-Saxon England around the year 1000 A.D. The annual round of agricultural tasks, as shown in the pages of a mediaeval manuscript known as the Julius Work Calendar, gives the book its structure.
One of the things I found most interesting was about bees and the charms (both Christian and pagan) used to persuade a swarm of bees to build their nest on your land. Honey was the only form of sweetener in use at that time and it was a lucky day when a swarm of bees took up residence on your land, since there was good money to be made from honey, beeswax and a resin used as a building material by the bees. Maybe the charms are the precursor of the tradition that beekeepers should always tell their bees when anything important happens, such as a death in the family. Make the bees feel welcome and part of the family and they will hang around!
Fly hither, my little cattle,
In blest peace, in God's protection,
Come home safe and sound!
This book is about every-day life in Anglo-Saxon England around the year 1000 A.D. The annual round of agricultural tasks, as shown in the pages of a mediaeval manuscript known as the Julius Work Calendar, gives the book its structure.
One of the things I found most interesting was about bees and the charms (both Christian and pagan) used to persuade a swarm of bees to build their nest on your land. Honey was the only form of sweetener in use at that time and it was a lucky day when a swarm of bees took up residence on your land, since there was good money to be made from honey, beeswax and a resin used as a building material by the bees. Maybe the charms are the precursor of the tradition that beekeepers should always tell their bees when anything important happens, such as a death in the family. Make the bees feel welcome and part of the family and they will hang around!
