Bees have been working symbiotically with humans for a very long time.

Egyptian pharaohs in Lower Egypt used bees as the royal symbol from 3000 to 350 BC and Napoleon used the bee as a symbol of immortality/resurection. Napoleon's red cape is famous for its bee print. Some say the fleur-de-lis was actually a bee.

It is believed that Alexander the Great was buried in honey. Burying the dead (especially nobility) in or with honey was common practice in Egypt, Assyria, and other regions. Honey was also used to embalm the dead.

Many famous poets and writers such as Virgil, Sophocles, and Plato were associated with the bee. A common story was that infants whose lips were touched by bees would become great speakers, poets, storytellers, and philosophers. Thus, bees were often called "birds of the muses".

History of Hemp and Wicks

Since the beginning of recorded history (and probably before then) wicks have been a part of many cultures from candle-like devices to many other uses still around today. Wicks served as humanitys primary light source for centuries.

Some of the first people to use candles were the ancient Egyptians. In Egyptian hieroglyphics the letter H was represented by a picture of a wick. This symbol can be found on walls clay tablets and ancient jewelery throughout Egypt.

Later the Romans developed the wick candle. To aid nighttime travelers and to light homes and places of worship they used candle wicks. Candle making for the Romans, like the early Egyptians, relied on tallow gathered from cattle or sheep suet. The Vikings would stick a wick in a bowl of oil for light.

It was not until the Middle Ages that beeswax, secreted by honey bees to make honeycombs, came into use. Beeswax candles were far superior to tallow candles, as they burned pure and clean, and did not produce a smoky flame or emit an acrid odor when burned. However, these were expensive and, therefore, only the wealthy could use these valuable candles.

The wick is the most important element of a candle - the heart of it. The word wick comes from Old English "weyke or wicke", Anglo Saxon "wecca", and Germanic "wieche" or "wicke". It is a name for a bundle of fibers that, when braided or twisted together, are used to draw oil or wax up into a flame to be burned in a lamp, candle, ect.

A candle without a wick is just a hunk of wax. The wick is what a candle is all about. The earliest known candles were basically a wick-like material coated with tallow or beeswax, not even resembling a modern candle at all. A wick without fuel such as wax around it is just a piece of string. Because the wick is fibrous and absorbent, melted wax is absorbed into it easily. Dipping a wick in and out of melted wax several times builds up layers of wax, sufficient enough to make a taper candle.