Patrons of Beekeeping Saint Zosima and Saint Savvatiy
I bought some honey the other day, and I read on the label, Great Lakes golden honey, Product of Argentina, Canada and Ukraine. So I looked up history of honey making in Ukraine and found it goes back to 1400s.
I found this post on Facebook about the Patron Saints of Beekeeping.
Patrons of Beekeeping Saint Zosima and Saint Savvatiy
When Saint Zosima and Saint Savvatiy founded the monastery on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea in 1436 , they were left with a huge problem. There were no bees to get the candle wax. Legend states that Saint Zozimus walked to Egypt to collect bees and a queen. He carried them back to Ukraine in a 'skep walking stick', and this was the beginning of apiculture in the Ukraine. According to medieval chronicles, from this very beginning of its existence, the Monastery had a bee yard, and thats why people believe that these two saints have taught people how to keep bees.
According to another legend; The two saints kept a bee farm and looked over it, though they never sold their bees. Then God put them to sleep for three days. At that time, the bees flew around the forests and people would take over the apiaries. Not surprisingly, therefore, that the two saints are depicted on icons with different beekeeping equipment of that time, beehives and bees. In the past, people always kept an icon with the image of Saint Zosima and Saint Savvatiy at the entrance to the bee yard, and beekeepers did not start their work without praying first. Saint Zosimas day is celebrated on April 30. There was a saying: Greet the bee on Zosimas day and there will be hives and wax. Another interesting note is that the day of Saint Zosimus (30 April) and Saint Savvaty (10 October) fit the entire bee season.
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getagrip_already
(16,783 posts)It was being organized by local beekeepers. They would bus you throughout the countryside, stopping in at local apiaries and staying at small inns and towns. About 2 weeks.
Covid sidelined it, then russia derailed it. Assholes.
Sigh. But yeah, ukraine was really well known in the beekerping world.
Beringia
(4,416 posts)I read that Ukrainians will go to honey fairs and taste the different honeys to find the best tasting one. I don't know how you can even tell a difference of one honey to another.
I found this, a Webinar on beekeeping in Ukraine at Penn State University
Recorded: February 15, 2024, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
The Beekeeping in Ukraine Journey will take you through Prewar times, visiting six regions in Ukraine through the Postwar experience and evolution of beekeeping practices in Ukraine after February 2022.
https://extension.psu.edu/beekeeping-around-the-world-ukraine
getagrip_already
(16,783 posts)Honey flavor is very dependent on the flowers the bees forage on.
Some are very pungent, some are very fragrant.
The honey can be as different as wine and vinegar.