Lore 314: Hive Mind

Lore

This episode of Lore explores the rich folklore surrounding bees across cultures, from ancient myths to religious symbolism and witchcraft t

Key takeaways

• Bees feature prominently in creation myths, such as the San people's story where a bee delivers the seed of humanity.
• Ancient Egyptians believed bees originated from the tears of the sun god Ra, linking them to immortality and sacred rituals.

Main topics

• Bees in mythology and creation stories
• Cultural symbolism of bees across civilizations

Notable quotes

"Maybe humans do really have bees to thank for our existence."

"Honey never spoils. And I mean never."

Conclusion

Bees, though small, have played enormous roles in human culture and imagination

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Walking around here in Massachusetts, it's hard not to think about the past. Everywhere you look, there are Puritan graveyards, old creaking churches, and crumbling stone walls built by long dead hands. History is both all around us and something so impossibly distant, it can be hard to imagine the people who lived in those times were ever truly real. But then again, the past is relative. After all, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded less than 400 years ago. Compare that to the Colosseum or the Great Pyramids, and me and John Proctor are practically twins. And then there's folks like the San people of Southern Africa, one of the world's oldest continuous cultures, still practicing traditions they started 44,000 years ago. And way back then, even they found themselves thinking about what came before. You see, the San people have a myth that tells the story of how humans were first created. It starts with the insect Mantis, a legendary figure in San mythology. Now, Mantis wanted to know the meaning of life, and he figured that he needed to do some traveling to find it. Unfortunately, at this time, the earth was still covered in water, and so he asked a winged insect to help carry him across the waves. The insect did, carrying Mantis for days. Eventually, it grew tired, though, and it dropped Mantis down onto a large white flower floating atop the water. And then, so exhausted from the journey, Mantis's generous friend died. But not before leaving Mantis with one final gift. It was the seed of humanity, which grew into the very first human. And that insect, by the way, was a bee. And honestly, the sun may have been on to something. You see, some scientists think our skill at collecting nutrient-dense honey may have given us an early evolutionary edge over other primates, allowing our brains to get bigger. In other words, maybe humans do really have bees to thank for our existence. And perhaps that's why this tiny pollinator shows up in more than its fair share of folklore. I'm Aaron Manke, and this is Lore. Speaker 1 (2:40) There are over 20,000 species of bee in the world, inhabiting every continent except Antarctica. They live in rainforests and arid deserts, verdant meadows, and snowy mountain ranges. And amazingly, these mountain bees can fly up to 9,000 meters high. For reference, Mount Everest is only 8,848 meters tall. In other words, these things are absolutely everywhere. And so is their folklore. In ancient Egypt, it was said that Ra, the sun god and creator of the world, wept, and when his tears hit the earth, they turned into the world's first bees. And thus, wax and honey also come from Ra's tears, ingredients the Egyptians used readily in food, medicine, and sacred ritual. Beeswax was even part of the mummification process, and jars of honey have been found in pharaoh's tombs. Oh, and by the way, honey never spoils. And I mean never. So that ancient tomb honey, it's still edible. Which, if you're like me, makes you curious about the oldest surviving honey in existence. Well, don't worry, I've got you. It was found in a tomb in the country of Georgia, and it's 5,500 years old. On a scale of 1 to 10, how cursed do you think a person would be if they had just a teeny little taste? Asking for a friend, of course. Now, the ancient Greeks believed that if a bee landed on a baby's lips, that baby would grow up to be a great orator. British folklore claims that if a bee lands on you, money is coming your way. And according to the Celts, bees carried messages from the gods and the afterlife. In fact, seeing a bee right before someone died was a sign that their soul had officially left their body. And meanwhile, ancient Christians had a whole slew of bee lore of their own. You know how Christian monks were often beekeepers? Well, it turns out there's a theological reason for that. You see, up until the 17th century, it was believed that bees didn't lay eggs or give birth, but reproduced spontaneously. How exactly? Well, folks had different theories about that. Some thought that they simply collected their offspring from the flowers that they visited, which is a rather adorable idea, I think. Less cute, though, is this method recommended by one French author who advised beekeepers in want of more bees to slaughter an ox and leave its corpse in a locked room for 45 days, after which there would, and I quote, proceed from it an infinity of bees. Anyway. Point being, folks thought that bees didn't reproduce sexually, and because of this, Christians naturally associated bees with the Virgin Mary and Immaculate Conception, which is why so many monks took up beekeeping. Not only did the honey and wax provide the monks with an income, but it served as a spiritual metaphor as well. Among English and Irish Christians specifically, it was widely said that bees buzz loudly outside the manger in celebration of Christ's birth, and that on midnight every Christmas, bees could be heard humming hymns. In other cultures, though, bees are associated less with religion and more with romance. In Hindu mythology, for example, the god of love, Kamadeva, carries a bow made of sugar cane that is strung with bees. Just like Cupid, he uses it to shoot arrows that stir passion in whoever they hit. Suspect that your lover is cheating? Well, according to an old Central European tradition, simply take a walk with them past a beehive, and if they're unfaithful, the bees will rush out and sting them. And on a sweeter note, literally, Zoroastrian wedding traditions include the couple eating honey to symbolize a sweet life together. And then, of course, there's the notion of the honeymoon. Now, you may have heard popular origin stories for that term before. Something about ancient pagans, perhaps Vikings, giving newlyweds a month's worth, aka a moon's worth, of honey wine to encourage them to, you know, get to know each other better. Thus the term honeymoon, right? But forget all of that, because despite being repeated in tons of books on marriage and bees alike, it's just not true. In reality, the first known use of the term honeymoon dates from 1546, and it has nothing to do with aphrodisiacs. No, it refers to the idea that, just like the moon, the sweetness of early marriage will inevitably wane. Speaker 1 (7:17) The priest had his suspicions, but now he was certain. His wife was having an affair with a younger man, and so he developed a plan for revenge. First, the priest sculpted beeswax into the shape of a crocodile. Then he crept down to the lake where his wife's lover was bathing and dropped the wax figure into the water. And as soon as he did, the wax crocodile came to life. It seized the poor young man by its jaws, dragging him to the bottom of the lake, and to his doom. This story comes to us from an ancient Egyptian text called the Weskar Papyrus, and was said to take place in the Old Kingdom's Fourth Dynasty, more than 4,000 years ago. And as fanciful as it is, this kind of tale is not uncommon, because wax and the