344 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



places his foot three times in suc- 

 cession upon the foot of the bride, 

 to signify that she is to submit to 

 him; then he circles her head witli 

 a silver thread to signify that she 

 must think of no one else. The 

 bride's mother then offers to the 

 young couple a mixture of wine and 

 honey, and throws to the floor be- 

 tween them whatever they leave of 

 it, saying: In as much as those 

 drops may noit be numbered, so your 

 days of happiness." 

 When the crowd leaves the house 

 for the church, the mother throws at 

 the young couple handfuls of wheat, 

 in sign of abundance. A brother of 

 the groom — there is always a brother 

 of the groom, as the families are 

 very numerous — walks at the head of 

 the procession, holding in his hands 

 a red scarf. The bride is either 

 seated upon a horse or on one of 

 those carts which are usually drawn 

 by slow, black oxen. During the 

 trip, the maids of honor sing the 

 bride's song. 



At the church the ceremony con- 

 sists mainly in the placing and ex- 

 changing of wreaths, the nuptial veil 

 being extended over the couple dur- 

 ing the entire time of benediction. 

 The rings have already been ex- 

 changed at the time of the engage- 

 ment. 



At the end of the ceremony the 

 crowd meets at the home of the 

 young man, where the wedding ban- 

 quet is held. It would take too much 

 space to describe this. 



The next morning the bride's 

 mother calls for her daughter's un- 

 dergarment, which is examined to 

 establish the undoubted honor of the 

 young woman. A dance is organized 

 and the crowd sings "The Honor of 

 the Chemise," while drinking brandy 

 sweetened with honey. (Compare 

 with Deuteronomy xxii, 13-20. — Trans- 

 lator.) 



The precious garment is placed in 

 a casket and brought to the home of 

 the bride's parents. There is served 

 a breakfast composed of honey and 

 cheesecakes. A larger cake of the 

 same kind is divided into 4 parts, for 

 the bride, the groom and the parents 

 of both. 



After this meal the young woman 

 accompanies her husband to the for- 

 est, or to the wood-pile, where he is 

 expected to cut, with a single stroke, 

 whatever piece of wood he attempts 

 to chop. If he succeeds, it is a sign 

 of happiness. The young woman 

 then prepares the noon meal for 

 themselves alone. After that meal 

 they visit every room of itheir home, 

 and in each room make a triple 

 sprinkle of holy water. Then a great 

 honey cake is brought, ornamented 

 with three branches of quince, and 

 all withdraw after having partaken 

 of this symbol, perfumed for a sweet, 

 and long life. 



The Cult of the Dead 



As soon as the moribund dies, the 

 oldest member of the family tics its 

 jaws with a handkerchief and closes 

 its mouth with beeswax. Then they 

 place within the joined hands a small 

 cross, made of beeswax also. They 

 then hasten to prepare the "collybes" 

 (Greek Kollis, round loaf), or fu- 



nereal cakes, which are made of a 

 mixture of boiled wheat, dried fruits 

 and honey. The funerals are con- 

 ducted within the day following. 

 During the psalm-singing and the 

 prayers, the priest swings the censer 

 over the corpse and over the assist- 

 ants. After three prostrations, the 

 friends and relatives kiss once the 

 face of the deceased. The coffin is 

 closed at the arrival at the cemetery 

 and only after the eldest of the 

 family has untied the chin and loos- 

 ened the garments of the dead, 

 whose soul is to be liberated by their 

 prayers. The body, when lowered 

 into the grave, is sprinkled with li- 

 bations of wine, oil and honey. This 

 impressive ceremony, which I often 

 witnessed, reminds me of the pas- 

 sage of Odyssey, where the divine 

 Ionian songster shows Odysseus in- 

 voking the shadows while pouring 

 into the grave, dug with his sword, 

 libations of milk, honey and wine 

 (Odyssey xi, 27). Achilles, also, is 

 shown placing near the funereal bed 

 of his friend Patroclus amphora? or 

 jars filled with honey and oil (Iliad 

 x.xiii, 170). Honey, which is for the 

 living a symbol of long life, as men- 

 tioned previously, evokes towards 

 the dead the thought of eternal life, 

 immortality. Herod reports that the 

 Babylonians embalmed their dead in 

 honey (i, 198), and that the Persians 

 covered the corpses entirely with 

 beeswax to preserve them (i, 140). 



The funereal feast is served about 

 the still open grave. The guests di- 

 vide among themselves the "collybes" 

 and eat holy bread dipped in honey 

 or in wine. A similar ceremony is 

 performed the 3rd, 9th, ISth, 21st, and 

 especialy 40th day after the funeral. 

 The collybes will on those days be 

 distributed at the gate of the ceme- 

 tery. At the head of each tomb may 

 be seen an earthen tube and a flat 

 stone, often sheltered with a small 

 arch. On this stone they light a wax- 

 candle or an oil lamp. The tube re- 

 ceives the libations, incense and col- 

 lybes, the share of the departed. 

 Every Saturday, for three years, they 

 will be faithfully brought to this 

 grave. In the third year they cele- 

 brate a second funeral. The exhumed 

 bones are carefully washed in wine, 

 placed in a little casket and depos- 

 ited in the ossuary of the cemetery. 

 Christmas Eve 

 I he eldest of the family has previ- 

 ously brought from the forest a 

 "badgnath" or Yule log. It is brought 

 to the home with solemnity. 1 1 

 side of the door, two wax candles are 

 lighted. The master of the house 

 and his wife throw a handful of 

 wheat at one another and drop some 

 on tin Yule log. Then the latter is 

 completely coated with honey. All 

 the members of the family, after 

 kising one another in pairs. li : 

 honey from the sacred log. It is 

 then laid in the fireplace and the 

 housekeeper goes out with the chil- 

 dren. She soon returns bringing a 

 little bundle of straw, walking 

 the room three times, while imi 

 the call of the mother-hen. The 

 children follow her, answering with 

 the imitation of the chicks, peeping. 

 and catching blades of straw which 



they drop on the floor. Then all sit 

 down and have a feast. The Yule 

 log is not allowed to burn itself out, 

 but a portion of it is preserved for 

 the ensuing vear. 



Written at'Salonica, Sept., 1918. 



Translated from L'Apiculteur. 



The Langstroth 13-Frame or Square 

 Hive 



By C. F. Davie 



A FEW observations noted in the 

 operation of the Langstroth 13- 

 frame hive may not be amiss at 

 this time, when discussion is rife as 

 to the desirability of utilizing large 

 hive-bodies. I commenced beekeeping 

 with the ordinary 10-frame hive, but, 

 having realized these do not provide 

 sufficient brood-space, I recently de- 

 cided to adopt something bigger. 

 While appreciating all that has been 

 said for the Dadant hive, I preferred 

 to have a style which would accom- 

 modate the same size frames already 

 in use, and thus enable the free inter- 

 change of my drawn combs. Accord- 

 ingly, last winter I made up ten large 

 13-framers — veritable barns. When 

 finished I contemplated them with 

 much satisfaction. They are 20J4 

 inches square and accommodate 13 

 frames snugly, with a nice quarter of 

 an inch to spare on one side, to per- 

 mit of easy manipulation. Fancy that 

 great box full of bees, thought I. 

 Fancy, also, the large entrance, run- 

 ning the full width of the hive, as a 

 means of ventilation. And then, if I 

 desire, I can give my square boxes a 

 quarter turn and winter my bees on 

 the warm plan. I waxed enthusiastic. 

 With more than sufficient brood- 

 space, according to the Dadant calcu- 

 lation, I ought certainly to have the 

 minimum of swarming, and the 

 queens would stay below without the 

 use of excluders. 



But the anticipated results failed to 

 materialize. Far from it. As a 

 swarming preventive, the barns were 

 an egregious failure. As a means to 

 keep her Ladyship out of the supers, 

 they were equally futile. The first 

 swarm of the year went out of one of 

 my barns. Curious, thought I — thir- 

 teen frames below and a super of an 

 equal number of shallows above 

 could not possibly be tilled by the end 

 of May. And this conjecture, at least, 

 was true. There was nothing in the 

 super, and several outside frames be- 

 low had still untouched foundation. 

 econd swarm of the year went 

 out of another of my barns. And it 

 was some swarm. Unfortunately, I 

 was absent on business when the 

 i v( nt came off, but my wife says it 

 was the largest she has seen or ever 

 expects to see. She made heroic ef- 

 forts to capture it, even cutting down 

 a tree the swarm had settled on. but 

 the bees went to a still more inac- 

 cessible place, camped all night, and 

 di parted the next day. Curious again, 

 thought I. There were two supers on 

 this hive. I opened Up and found the 

 foundation in four outside frames be- 

 low untouched, but brood in the cen- 

 tral part of the two supers. 



Having now found the facta, let us 

 apply the law, as the judges say. I 



