TELLING THE BEES AND OTHER CUSTOMS (PB)

Blacksmithing, brewing, beekeeping, baking, milling, spinning, knitting and weaving: these skills and others like them once held societies together. This book examines the customs, superstitions and stories which were connected to these rural crafts. From the spinning of the Fates to the blacksmith’s relationship with the devil, and the symbolism of John Barleycorn to a ritual to create bees from the corpse of a cow – these are the tales and traditions which passed from hand to hand and generation to generation.