St Bartholomew's Day and Honey

If August 24th be fair and clear,

Then hope for a prosperous autumn that year.

Today, August 24th, is Saint Bartholomew's Day. Bar-Tolmai (son of Tolmai) lived and died in 1st century Palestine. It is thought he was flayed alive so becoming the patron saint of butchers and tanners. He was also the patron saint of bee keepers and it was traditional for the honey to be taken from the bees on this day.

St John's Gospel records a conversation between Jesus and Bartholomew who was one of the first disciples . Jesus said Bartholomew was a man without deceit. Bartholomew asked " How do you know me?" and Jesus answered, "Before Philip called you, when you were sitting under the fig tree, I saw you". Bartholomew's early doubt disappeared and he said" Teacher you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel". Bartholomew became an apostle and was granted a vision of the Risen Lord.

Later traditions record he preached in India and Armenia, where he met his death.

This small book all about honey is one I picked up for next to nothing from a car-boot sale two years ago it turned out to be a fascinating little book, packed full of everything you ever wanted to know about honey.

There's a whole A-Z of the flavours of honey when it's been made from various plants and several pages of quotes about honey.

If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive

Dale Carnegie

Tart words make no friends: a spoonful of honey

will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar.

Benjamin Franklin

Humans have been harvesting honey for at least 8,000 years, for most of those it's been taken from wild bees then came straw skeps, from which the whole combs would have been taken. Then came wooden hives with purpose made removable frames that we see today with centrifugal honey extractors- invented in 1865, honey production and harvesting became a lot safer and easier.

Illustration from the book 'An English Cottage Year' by Sally Holmes and Tracey Williamson.

In London a St Bartholomew's Day fair was held to raise funds for St Bartholomew's hospital. The fair was first held in 1133 but was banned in 1855 because of offences against public dignity and morals!

The first "toffee apples" were traditional at this fair, they were windfall apples, skewered on sticks and dipped in honey.

St. Bartholomew's mantle wipes dry all the tears St. Swithin can cry


As St. Bart's Day, so the autumn .

 (Many Thanks for comments yesterday and apologies for not replying. Had a whole day travelling home from a holiday with family which I'll write about next week - awful traffic everywhere. I didn't factor in travelling home on the Friday before a Bank Holiday weekend when I made the booking in May of 2023!)

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Sue