Telling the bees is a tradition in many European countries in which bees would be told of important events in their keeper's lives such as births, marriages and

Telling the bees is a tradition in many European countries in which bees would be told of important events in their keeper's lives such as births, marriages and departures and returns in the household. If the custom was omitted or forgotten and the bees were not "put into mourning" then it was believed a penalty would be paid, such as the bees leaving their hive, stopping the production of honey or dying. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telling_the_bees https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telling_the_bees