Telling the Bees and Other Customs

Telling the Bees and Other Customs examines the folklore attached to rural crafts, showing how practical skills became surrounded by stories, rituals and superstitions. Mark Norman covers wool, thread and cloth, bees and beekeeping, blacksmithing and metalworking, brewing, milling and baking.

Alongside the custom of informing bees about a death in their keeper’s household, the book considers the spinning Fates, the blacksmith’s dealings with the Devil and the symbolism of John Barleycorn. It also records a striking tradition concerning bees created from a cow’s corpse, placing these accounts within the wider mythology of trades that helped sustain rural communities.