Telling the Bees

This refers to a custom, still widely spread across Central Europe, British Isles, America, where the bees have to be told of important events-- death, birth, marriage - connected with their beekeeper and his family.

It may be that the custom of telling of a death originated in the idea that the bees were souls and that they were creatures who could fly up into the heavens from where they had come.

From the earliest ages bees have been regarded as symbols of god and held in high regard because  of their role as pollinators and producers of honey.
​If not told of the death of their owner , the bees will be offended, dwindle or die.  Or they might leave the hive and will follow their master up in the sky.