Telling the Bees and Other Customs: The Folklore of Rural Crafts

Telling the Bees and Other Customs examines the folklore attached to traditional rural crafts, showing how skilled work became surrounded by customs, superstitions, stories and mythology. Mark Norman considers blacksmithing, brewing, beekeeping, baking, milling, spinning, knitting and weaving, linking practical trades with older beliefs and symbolic traditions.

The book ranges from the spinning of the Fates and the blacksmith’s association with the devil to John Barleycorn and beliefs surrounding bees. It also discusses a ritual said to create bees from a cow’s corpse. Sections on wool, beekeeping, metalworking, brewing, milling and baking bring together the beliefs and narratives that developed around work central to rural life.