In many old country households, when someone in the family died, one of the first things to do was not to write to relatives or call the vicar. It was to walk down the garden to the beehives, knock gently, and tell the bees. This custom, known simply as telling the bees, was once widespread across Britain and parts of Europe, and it traveled with settlers to New England. It says a great deal about how our ancestors understood the creatures they lived beside.

What the Custom Involved

The details varied from region to region, but the core idea was consistent: bees were considered part of the household, and they had to be kept informed of its important events, especially deaths. Typically, the head of the house or a close family member would knock on each hive, sometimes with the house key, and quietly announce the news, naming the person who had died. In many areas the hives were then draped with black cloth or crepe as a sign of mourning, and in some traditions the bees were even offered a share of the funeral food and drink.

Happier news was shared too. Bees might be told about a wedding, and some families decorated hives with ribbons or a piece of wedding cake. Births, homecomings, and the arrival of a new master or mistress of the house could all be announced to the hive.

Why It Mattered

The consequences of forgetting were taken seriously. It was widely believed that bees who were not told of a death would take offense, stop producing honey, abandon the hive, or even die. For a rural family, that was no small threat. Bees provided honey, which was the main sweetener before sugar became cheap, and beeswax for candles, polish, and waterproofing. Losing a hive could mean real hardship.

There may also be a practical thread woven through the superstition. A death in the family could mean a change of ownership, and the hives might be moved or neglected. Honeybee colonies really do sometimes abscond or swarm when disturbed. The custom ensured that, amid grief, someone remembered to look after the bees.

A Custom That Crossed the Atlantic

Settlers carried the practice to North America, where it became part of New England rural life. The American poet John Greenleaf Whittier made it famous in his 1858 poem Telling the Bees, in which a young man returning to his beloved’s farm sees a servant draping the hives in black and realizes, with dawning dread, that someone in the house has died. The poem helped fix the image of mourning hives in the popular imagination.

Still Practiced Today

The tradition has not disappeared. When Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, the royal beekeeper, John Chapple, widely reported that he had gone to the hives at Buckingham Palace and Clarence House, tied black ribbons on them, and informed the bees of the Queen’s death and that they had a new master in King Charles III. The story traveled around the world and introduced the custom to a whole new generation.

Bees in Wider Folklore

• Ancient Egypt: one myth held that bees were born from the tears of the sun god Ra as they fell to earth.
• Ancient Greece: priestesses at several shrines were called Melissae, from the Greek word for bee, and honey was linked with prophecy and the gods.
• Celtic and British tradition: bees were often thought of as messengers between this world and the next, which helps explain why they needed to hear about deaths.
• Everyday superstition: in parts of England it was considered bad luck to buy bees with money; they were better obtained by barter or as a gift.

What the Custom Teaches Us

Telling the bees reflects a way of seeing the world in which animals are not simply resources but members of a shared household, owed courtesy and news. In a time when bees face real threats from habitat loss and pesticides, that sense of kinship feels worth remembering. For more on how old gardens and their creatures fit together, read the history of the cottage garden, where bees were always part of the household.

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Bees, hives, and garden flowers appear in our botanical watercolor prints, available in our Etsy shop, NaturalEMNB.