Laura Dean Bennett
Staff Writer
There is not a time nor place on earth where the bee has not embedded itself within the imagination and symbolism of humankind.
Throughout the ages, bees have played an important role in almost every culture. From the ancient Egyptians to the Native Americans, honeybees have been included in religious rites, folklore and superstitions.
But the relationship between bees and humans goes far beyond culture. They are indispensable to life on Earth.
The pollination of most of our plant crops depends on bees. Seventy of the top 100 crop species that feed 90% of the human population are pollinated by bees.
As go the bees, so go the animals which feed on the crops – and the humans who feed on both the crops and the animals.
Honeybees truly are remarkable creatures.
All bees evolved from carnivorous wasps and there are more than 20,000 species of bees, but only the few belonging to the genus Apis make honey.
And only the Apis mellifera – our Western honeybee – makes honey in quantities sufficient to feed both themselves and humans.
Historians long believed that our common honeybees – Apis mellifera – were not native to North America. But that theory was debunked when a 14-million-year-old fossilized Apis mellifera was discovered in Nevada.
Scientists don’t know why, but Apis mellifera must have gone extinct in North America before being brought back by European settlers in the 17th century.
Honeybees are endlessly fascinating.
It requires one million flowers to make a pound of honey, and a healthy honeybee colony can make over 100 pounds of honey per year.
Honeybees are the only insects which produce human food, and they’ve been doing so for a mere 150 million years.
Honey has a miraculously unique chemical composition.
Honey buried in Egyptian tombs more than 3,000 years ago was found to still be perfectly edible when it was discovered during archaeological digs.
We are still discovering the amazing abilities of bees. Due to their extraordinary sense of smell – which is significantly more acute than that of dogs – honeybees are being trained to detect explosives and land mines.
Bees’ extreme sensitivity to smells, including CO2 levels, explains why they don’t react to a quiet, calm approach but denote a predatory threat in heavy or rapid breathing.
This accounts for their aggression toward a panicky or overly excited person and perhaps why smoke will calm a hive.
Early humans learned this when they began to take honey from wild hives, and the human race began a very long and beneficial relationship with the honeybee.
Fifteen-thousand-year-old cave drawings depict humans “robbing” honey from wild bees.
Around 2500 BCE, archaeological evidence shows that humans had begun to capture bee hives for beekeeping.
Archaeology has revealed honey production existed in ancient farming communities in Egypt, Europe, the Mediterranean, the Near East, Scandinavia, Britain and China where honey was used for culinary and eventually, medicinal purposes.
They may not have understood the intricacies of honey’s anti-inflammatory and antibacterial capabilities, but many cultures, from the Celts and Vikings to the ancient Greeks and Romans learned to use it as an agent of healing.
And they also learned how to use honey to make mead – one of the world’s oldest alcoholic beverages.
The word, “honeymoon,” comes from the Vikings, who venerated mead as a gift from the gods. Mead became a traditional Nordic gift to newlyweds.
Bees even provided wax for the candles which lit the rooms of ancient civilizations across the world.
No wonder every culture the world over put great value on the partnership between bees and their keepers.
One of the most famous superstitions is “telling the bees,” which probably originated in Celtic culture.
Telling the bees referred to keeping bees abreast of all important family matters including births, deaths and marriages.
They would also be informed about family members leaving home for extended periods of time.
The festive occasion of a wedding must include the bees. Just as the family home would be decorated for the happy occasion, so would the hives.
The newlyweds would introduce themselves to the bees and bring them a piece of wedding cake. If they failed to make the bees part of their celebration, the couple risked having an unhappy marriage.
Most importantly, bees needed to be notified of deaths in the family. Bees would often be offered honey and wine during the funeral, and their hives would be draped in black.
Failing to tell the bees about a death, especially the death of the beekeeper, could cause the colony to get sick or abandon the hive. And it often fell to the eldest son to move the hives to honor the loss of their master.
Many superstitions came to the New World with the colonists and became part of American bee lore.
Telling the bees was quite common in New England and Appalachia.
American poet John Greenleaf Whittier commemorated the custom in his 1858 poem, “Telling the Bees.”
Like it had in the Old World, beekeeping enriched the lives of Americans and continues to do so.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, honeybees added nearly $350 million to the American economy in 2023.
But these days, we understand that it’s going to take more than adhering to superstitious traditions to protect bees.
The last several decades has seen a drastic worldwide decline of wild honeybees and bees in the care of beekeepers are also threatened.
The combination of habitat, pesticide use, extreme weather, Varroa mites and other stressors are thought to be increasing pressure on bees.
If bee populations continue their decline, crop yields and local, national and international agricultural economies will be at risk.
According to a survey of commercial beekeepers, last winter was one of the hardest on record for bees in the U.S.
They recorded a loss of at least 62% – more than a million colonies – between June 2024 to February 2025.
And it was a bad winter for Pocahontas County bees as well.
Many local “backyard” beekeepers here reported unusually large hive losses last winter.
Some theorize that the combination of last winter’s relentlessly frigid temperatures following closely on the heels of the 2024 summer drought may have created a perfect storm of stress.
Naturally, West Virginia University researchers are anxious to understand the factors causing the decline of West Virginia’s bee population and determine solutions.
They will be including beekeepers and the public in their research and efforts to improve the outlook for strong, healthy bee colonies.
One way to mitigate bee population losses is by encouraging more beekeeping.
The Pocahontas County Beekeepers are doing just that. They promote beekeeping and support both neophyte and experienced beekeepers alike.
Beekeeping can be challenging. It requires a lot of knowledge and can be a steep learning curve.
But many beekeepers say it’s more than worth it.
Beekeepers, like Cleva Shaw, of Marlinton, say they do it for the pure enjoyment of it.
“Working with bees is the most relaxing thing in the world,” Shaw enthused.
“Doctors even recommend beekeeping for people who suffer from PTSD,” she added.
Now is the ideal time to start your beekeeping adventure.
Learn all you can about keeping bees during the cold months of the “off season.” Reach out to your local beekeeping association and be ready to start your own colony by spring.
The Pocahontas County Beekeepers meets at 7 p.m. the third Thursday of the month at the Community Wellness Center in Marlinton.
“The public is always welcome to attend our meetings,” PCB president Sandy Simmons said.
“Whether you’re thinking of starting to keep bees or just interested in learning more about them, we’d be glad to have you.”
And may the blessing of the bees be with you.
