Friday, January 8, 2010

Bees!

Je suis tres fatiguee and I think I will be going to bed embarrassingly early tonight. Like a little hibernating creature. On a Friday night.

Bees! I got a necklace with a bee on it for Christmas, I say because my nickname has (from time to time) been Emblebee or some variant thereupon, my parents say because I am a Queen Bee and have an inflated sense of what-have-you.

Anyway, as a good friend pointed out, did you know that (one of) Napoleon's symbols was a bee? The internet is rather unclear as to why - I am getting that "France is a republic with a head, like a beehive"; that "bees kick other - floral - royal symbols' butts"; or that "bees sting and also make honey"; or even that "Napoleon was cheap so he took the old fleur-de-lis draperies and hung them upside-down."

Also, bees apparently symbolize immortality and resurrection. Who knows. Something about how bees...okay or golden cicadas?...were used by France's earliest monarchs (Charlemagne/Childrec/Merovingians) and also ancient Egyptians (???). But maybe I think someone needs a crash course in entomology.

Anyway, lots of bee facts out there. Bzzz!

2 comments:

Alyssa said...

Woo! I win the shout-out contest!

(I only knew that because I took 19th Century French Art. :P)

<3

Connie R said...

“Every saint has a bee in his halo." So says Elbert Hubbard. I have no real idea what he means, but I like it.