_Bees invited to Funerals.--North Side of Churchyards._--At Bradfield, a
primitive village on the edge of the moors, in the parish of
Ecclesfield, I was informed by a person of much intelligence, that a
custom has obtained in the district from time immemorial--"for hundreds
of years" was the expression used--of inviting bees to funerals; and
that an instance could be produced of the superstition having been
practised even within the last year. What is done is this. When a death
occurs, a person is appointed to call the neighbours to the funeral, who
delivers the invitations in one form of words: "You are invited to the
funeral of A. B., which is to take place at such an hour, on such a day;
and there will be dinner on table at----o'clock." And if it should
happen that bees were kept in the garden of the house where the corpse
lies (not an unlikely thing near moors), the messenger is instructed to
address the same invitation to the bees in their hives; because it is
considered that, if this compliment be omitted, the bees will die.
I asked the sexton of Bradfield why, in a churchyard that was rather
crowded with graves, there was no appearance of either mound or
tombstone on the north side? His only answer was, "It's mostly them 'at
died i' t' workhus is buried at t' backside o' t' church." An instance,
but no explanation of the prejudice entertained against the north side
of churchyards.