It's an old British tradition that when someone died, the bees had to be told. A member of the household would go to the hives, knock three times lightly on each one, and speak the news aloud. Addressing the bees by name if they had names, and always speaking gently, because bees were understood to be sensitive to grief.

If the bees were not told, the consequences were thought to be dire: they would swarm, stop producing honey, sicken, or leave. Some accounts say they would die. It was not seen as an optional at all, it was as necessary as closing the eyes of the dead or stopping the clocks in respect.

There are records of this tradition across England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and much of northern Europe, and persisted well into the twentieth century. It reflects a belief far older than any record of it: that bees are messengers between the living and the dead, that they carry news between worlds, and that the bond between a household and its hives is not merely economic but spiritual.

In some places, the hives were draped in black cloth. In others, a piece of funeral cake and a "bee serving" of wine were left at the hive entrance, so the bees could mourn in their own way and in their own time.

It wasn't only difficult news shared with the bees, the bees were to be told of any big happenings. Weddings, births, notable visitors, important news, or even just some simple local gossip. They were part of the family, and they expected to be kept informed.