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From another wikipedia link: “In mythology, the bee, found in Indian, ancient Near East and Aegean cultures, was believed to be the sacred insect that bridged

From another wikipedia link: “In mythology, the bee, found in Indian, ancient Near East and Aegean cultures, was believed to be the sacred insect that bridged the natural world to the underworld.” “According to Hittite mythology, the god of agriculture, Telipinu, went on a rampage and refused to allow anything to grow and animals would not produce offspring. The gods went in search of Telipinu only to fail. Then the goddess Ḫannaḫanna sent forth a bee to bring him back. The bee finds Telipinu, stings him and smears wax upon him. The god grew even angrier and it wasn't until the goddess Kamrusepa (or a mortal priest according to some references) uses a ritual to send his anger to the Underworld.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_(mythology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_(mythology)

Igelau 5y ago
This part interested me: > believed to be the sacred insect that bridged the natural world to the underworld When we were kids, my brother and I would keep away from dead bees because they "might come back to life". We had probably been warned that the bee might be dormant, or that the mechanism of the stinger can still trigger even after the bee is dead. Maybe a friend gave us a mixed up version of the facts. The way we had it set it in our heads was that dead bees could come back to life.
- throwanem 5y ago
  Vespid wasps, especially the family of hornets and yellowjackets, have alarm pheromones. This is why it's a very bad idea to kill a wasp: her sisters are likely to smell what you did, and may come and try to kill you right back. Damaging the body of a dead wasp can also release the pheromone, eliciting the same response. I don't know that we need a just-so story to explain a folkway around avoiding interference with the remains of deceased hymenopterans, but if we do, this is probably the strongest candidate.
- cardiffspaceman 5y ago
  In "To Have and Have Not" Eddie believes that dead bees can still sting, "especially if they was kind of mad when they got killed."
mise_en_place 5y ago
The bee was very important for Indo-Europeans, because honey has a really good shelf life, a necessity when one is nomadic. From the Rig Veda I 154: “तद॑स्य प्रि॒यम॒भि पाथो॑ अश्यां॒ नरो॒ यत्र॑ देव॒यवो॒ मद॑न्ति । उ॒रु॒क्र॒मस्य॒ स हि बन्धु॑रि॒त्था विष्णो॑: प॒दे प॑र॒मे मध्व॒ उत्स॑: ॥ तदस्य प्रियमभि पाथो अश्यां नरो यत्र देवयवो मदन्ति । उरुक्रमस्य स हि बन्धुरित्था विष्णोः पदे परमे मध्व उत्सः ॥ tad asya priyam abhi pātho aśyāṃ naro yatra devayavo madanti | urukramasya sa hi bandhur itthā viṣṇoḥ pade parame madhva utsaḥ ||” Madhva seems to be an epithet for the Vedic Vishnu, Indra, and later Krishna. The Sanskrit word for honey is Madhu, sharing the same root as mead. So you could loosely translate it as “mead-sweetened”. My hypothesis is that soma was not a psychoactive drug but mead drank in a ritual context. The bee was so important to the Vedic religon that the earliest iconography of Vishnu is simply a bee resting on a lotus flower. This leads me to believe the Vedic non-Puranic Vishnu was a mead swigging warrior, as opposed to the later Puranic Vishnu/Krishna, who himself was likely a disciple/devotee of Shiva as evidenced by his many Shiva rituals in the Bhagavad Gita. It’s hilarious to think how Krishna was retconned as Vishnu, when he is himself a huge devotee of Shiva!
- namanyayg 5y ago
  > Krishna was retconned as Vishnu I know that Krishna = Vishnu but never knew it was retconned. What's the source?
  - mise_en_place 5y ago
    That’s merely conjecture on my part. The two are quite different based on their descriptions. The Vedic Vishnu is described as a fierce warrior, like Varaha, a wild boar. Krishna is way more calm, reasonable, and shall we say crafty. The two also represent the shift from a hunter-gatherer society to a more agrarian based society. Technically both Vishnu and Krishna are relatives, since they both descend from Kashyap, so I could see why his contemporaries saw him as the reincarnation of Vishnu.

Igelau 5y ago

This part interested me: > believed to be the sacred insect that bridged the natural world to the underworld When we were kids, my brother and I would keep away from dead bees because they "might come back to life". We had probably been warned that the bee might be dormant, or that the mechanism of the stinger can still trigger even after the bee is dead. Maybe a friend gave us a mixed up version of the facts. The way we had it set it in our heads was that dead bees could come back to life.

throwanem 5y ago
Vespid wasps, especially the family of hornets and yellowjackets, have alarm pheromones. This is why it's a very bad idea to kill a wasp: her sisters are likely to smell what you did, and may come and try to kill you right back. Damaging the body of a dead wasp can also release the pheromone, eliciting the same response. I don't know that we need a just-so story to explain a folkway around avoiding interference with the remains of deceased hymenopterans, but if we do, this is probably the strongest candidate.
cardiffspaceman 5y ago
In "To Have and Have Not" Eddie believes that dead bees can still sting, "especially if they was kind of mad when they got killed."

mise_en_place 5y ago

The bee was very important for Indo-Europeans, because honey has a really good shelf life, a necessity when one is nomadic. From the Rig Veda I 154: “तद॑स्य प्रि॒यम॒भि पाथो॑ अश्यां॒ नरो॒ यत्र॑ देव॒यवो॒ मद॑न्ति । उ॒रु॒क्र॒मस्य॒ स हि बन्धु॑रि॒त्था विष्णो॑: प॒दे प॑र॒मे मध्व॒ उत्स॑: ॥ तदस्य प्रियमभि पाथो अश्यां नरो यत्र देवयवो मदन्ति । उरुक्रमस्य स हि बन्धुरित्था विष्णोः पदे परमे मध्व उत्सः ॥ tad asya priyam abhi pātho aśyāṃ naro yatra devayavo madanti | urukramasya sa hi bandhur itthā viṣṇoḥ pade parame madhva utsaḥ ||” Madhva seems to be an epithet for the Vedic Vishnu, Indra, and later Krishna. The Sanskrit word for honey is Madhu, sharing the same root as mead. So you could loosely translate it as “mead-sweetened”. My hypothesis is that soma was not a psychoactive drug but mead drank in a ritual context. The bee was so important to the Vedic religon that the earliest iconography of Vishnu is simply a bee resting on a lotus flower. This leads me to believe the Vedic non-Puranic Vishnu was a mead swigging warrior, as opposed to the later Puranic Vishnu/Krishna, who himself was likely a disciple/devotee of Shiva as evidenced by his many Shiva rituals in the Bhagavad Gita. It’s hilarious to think how Krishna was retconned as Vishnu, when he is himself a huge devotee of Shiva!

namanyayg 5y ago
> Krishna was retconned as Vishnu I know that Krishna = Vishnu but never knew it was retconned. What's the source?
- mise_en_place 5y ago
  That’s merely conjecture on my part. The two are quite different based on their descriptions. The Vedic Vishnu is described as a fierce warrior, like Varaha, a wild boar. Krishna is way more calm, reasonable, and shall we say crafty. The two also represent the shift from a hunter-gatherer society to a more agrarian based society. Technically both Vishnu and Krishna are relatives, since they both descend from Kashyap, so I could see why his contemporaries saw him as the reincarnation of Vishnu.