Bees are one of the most recognizable insects in the world. They are the only insects whose product people can eat. Reading about them I realized why they are called “divine architects”. They have been around a lot longer than we have been, 10 to 20 million years before people. The way of making honey has not changed for over 150 million years. People’s relationship with bees goes back to the Stone Age.
In the beginning all the bees were wild; later, people learned how to gather them in hives. Back then honey was eaten as the only sweetener. People would risk their lives to climb to the bees’ nest in order to get the honey. Since ancient times honey has been used in various ways :
in a mixture with wine for pouring wedges of sacred buildings, for balm, as a sweetener, a means of payment, for making mortars, and as a medicinal and cosmetic agent.
Honey is the only food that contains all the necessary substances for life – enzymes, vitamins, minerals and water. It is also the only nutrient that contains pinocembrin, an antioxidant that enhances brain function.
HONEY AS A WAY OF PAYMENT
The Egyptians and the Romans used honey instead of gold as a means of paying tax. Honey was so popular that In Germany, peasants were required to give their feudal lords a payment of honey and beeswax.
The value of honey was compared to the value of salt in the Middle Ages, and so for centuries it used to be way of paying taxes.
HONEY IN RELIGION RULES
Honey has long been associated with the sacred. The Greeks offered honey to the gods and spirits of their dead. They created an alcoholic beverage called mead and it was considered the drink of the gods. Egyptians fed honey to their sacred animalsa. And the Lord told Moses the Promised Land was “flowing with milk and honey”
In many religions, honey is used as a part of different customs and beliefs. Christmas, as one of the greatest holidays in Christianity, can not be imagined without honey, because it symbolizes something nice and good.
Orthodox people make various honey cakes and serve honey with butter and dry fruit, which is a sign of goodness, well-being, health and wealth. Honey is also used often at funerals because it represents happiness and peace in the life after death.
With Catholics, honey symbolizes health, beauty, abundance.
The Jews begin the New Year (Rosh Hashana) by bringing a slice of apples into a honeycomb, so that the New Year begins sweet.
The Quran talks about honey as a food as well as a medicine.
HONEY IN TREATMENT
Fresh honey has been used as the treatment of eye diseases, throat infections, bronchial asthma, tuberculosis, stuttering, thirst, dizziness, fatigue, jaundice, mucous membranes, constipation, hemorrhoids, eczema and mental health.
The Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Old Greeks and the Romans used honey for the treatment of wounds, especially after the battle. The honey would be used used after surgery, and depending on the purpose it could be enriched with some other ingredients, such as barley.
The Sumerians even had some laws related to bees.
In Ancient China, the document from 2000 years before the New Age shows that honey had a very important part of everyday life. According to Chinese medicine, honey is a balanced character (neither is Yin nor Yang) and works according to the principles of the Earth’s element, entering into the lung, spleen, and colon.
According to the East Zhou Dynasty (770-256), honey and larvae of bees were considered as rare foods served for royal families.
Traditional Chinese medicine (combined with some other plants) uses it against cough, pain, constipation and in the treatment of gastritis and stomach ulcers, as well as anxiety and insomnia.
Honey is shown on many wall paintings that belong to Egypt. There is a papyrus dating back to 1550 before the New Era containing 147 recipes for outdoor use. “Mix honey, red clay, alabaster powder to treat alopecia (hair loss in some places) or” use honey after surgery as a suppository (suppository) to reduce inflammation. “ Similar mixtures were used. Since it is a highly “non-volatile” substance for bacteria, it has often been used in the treatment of cuts, burns, pulping processes, skin wounds as a result of scurvy, stiff joints.
Today, it is used in many cultures for the treatment of dandruff and seasonal allergies.
Author: Olga Perić, dipl. psiholog i kulinarski mag
