Beekeeping and Honey Throughout History - Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - page 64

nineteenth-centuryNewEnglandpoets,JohnGreenleafWhittierandEugene
Field, wrote poems entitled “Telling the Bees.”
H ONEY IN L OVE
•Theterm honeymoon originatedwiththeNorsepracticeofconsuminglargequantities
of mead during the first month of a marriage. This practice was believed to ensure
fertility during the lunar cycle.
•InearlyGreeceandRomehoneysymbolizedfertility,love,andbeauty.Greekmytho-
logysaysthatCupiddippedhisarrowsinhoneytofillalover'sheartwithsweetness.
•InGreeceitiscustomaryforabridetodipherfingerintohoneyandmakethesignof
the cross before entering her new home. This gesture would bring her a sweet mar-
ried life and good relationship with her mother-in-law.
M AD H ONEY
There is some honey known to be toxic to humans. Popularly known as mad honey or
crazy honey , it is most commonly found in the northern hemisphere and produced from
thespringflowersofrhododendrons,mountainlaurels,oleander,andazaleas.Thebeau-
tifulandfragrantyellowjessaminethatturnstheSouthernswampstogoldinthespring-
time also has the reputation of yielding poisonous honey. The nectar of these plants
may contain grayanotoxin, a compound that is both psychoactive and poisonous to hu-
mans, but harmless to bees. However, during the time when azaleas and rhododendrons
bloom, other flowers more appealing to the honeybees are usually available. Also, the
shape of the azalea flower makes access to nectar difficult for honeybees. Azalea and
rhododendron honey remains toxic for only a very short period, so humans rarely en-
counter lethal honey. In fact, because honeybees act as biological filtering agents, any
toxiclevelsofchemicalsbroughtbacktothehive(inpollen,nectar,andpropolis)would
kill the bees and their brood before even reaching a human.
Nevertheless, the effects of mad honey have been reported in Western literature as
early as 401 BC, when Greek general Xenophon, a follower of Socrates, led 10,000
Greek soldiers into battle. Setting up camp in an area named Colchis in Persia, they
landed upon wild bees and proceeded to eat the honey inside the hives. General Xeno-
phon described the effects of toxic honey in his history Anabasis Book viii 18-23 : “All
thesoldierswhoateofthehoneycombslosttheirsenses,andwereseizedwithvomiting