We can't have a honey bee class and not talk about Pooh Bear! Who loves honey more than Pooh!?
Winnie was actually the name of a real black bear that British World War I troops brought back with them from the town of Winnipeg in Canada. Winnie was put in the London Zoo in 1919 and was the favorite animal of Christopher Robin, the son of A.A. Milne. Christopher Robin then named his stuffed toy bear Winnie the Pooh.
A.A. Milne, an author, was then inspired to write a series of stories about Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh. The names of the other characters, Pooh's friends, were also the names of Christopher Robin's other stuffed animal toys. Winnie-the-Pooh, the first in the series, was published in 1926. Over the decades, as we know, the books have remained very popular and become the favorite stories of many children, including Walt Disney's daughters.
In 1977, Disney released the first feature-length film, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. By 1993, Pooh Bear was only second to Mickey Mouse as Disney's most recognized character, and by 1996, he had become the most popular.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=---7zysc77Y
2600 BC -- Egyptian Medical Records list over 900 uses for honey, the majority of them medical.
2000 BC—One of the oldest written documents describing the medicinal uses of honey: a Sumerian written prescription for a honeyed healing agent to treat surgical incisions: includes honey, hot cedar oil, river dust to give the mixture a firmness
1500 – 500 BC – Vedas, Hindu Sacred Books, suggest taking honey to ease the ailments of the body
1600 – The Egyptian Ebers Papyrus: 147 of 700 medical treatment formulas use honey as the prime healing agent
1550 BC – The Egyptian Edwin Smith Papyrus (it was named after the man who bought it) lists 48 separate uses of honey as a healing agent.
1500(ish) BC – Shen Nong’s Herbal Materia Medica, one of the written bases of Chinese traditional medicine, centers honey as one of the main medicinal sources
400 BC – Hippocrates, known as the Father of Modern Medicine, recorded the many therapeutic properties of Honey
4 BC – Democritus, “the laughing philosopher”, 109 years old, credited honey for his health and happiness
5 AD – Marcellus Empiricus, of what is now Modern Day France, records that honey eases the dullness of eyesight and treats white eye spots
23-79 AD – Pliny the Elder, a Roman Pharmacist, writes of Honey cured maladies of throat, mouth, and body.
Same – Dioscorides, in De Materia Medica (Roman Medical Book), mentions the use of Honey for the aid of sunburns, ulcers, cough, lice, tonsil infection, and more.
Same—Roman centenarian Pollio Rumilius tells Julius Caesar that his secret for health is “Exterius Melle, Exterius Olio” – Inside, Honey. Outside, oil.
Bible – Honey is mentioned throughout, including a mention that Jesus was to be fed honey.
Qur’an – Muhammad says that Honey is a remedy for every illness of the body and the Qur’an is a remedy for every illness of the mind, and recommends both remedies for a wholly healthy life
Alexander the Great – embalmed in liquid honey (a method frequently used, since the antibacterial properties of honey cause it to suck out the bacteria that causes the decay of human flesh
[Hiatus of records after the fall of the Roman Empire]
924 – Leech Book of Bald by the English Monk Bald highlights honey as a salve and wound treatment
1446 – With the renaissance came a revival of the interest in medicine, and honey as such (as well as an interest in all things good –dance, art, music, you name it)
1623 – Rev. Charles Butler writes the Feminine Monarchie, a treatise on honey bee ways, mentioning many medicinal uses of honey.
1759 – Dr. John Hill writes, “The Virtues of Honey in Preventing Many of the World’s Worst Disorders”
In the 19th century, the world entered a craving for modern synthetic medicine, and the treatments of thousands of years fell by the wayside, except for in the beekeeping circles and folktale remedies. Honey became used as a sweetener more than as a medicinal product.
In the late 20th and early 21st century, a revival of interest in honey’s medicinal properties occurred.
1991 – New Zealand Biochemist Dr. Peter Molan of the University of Waikato, interested in naturally antibacterial products, hears of rumors of Manuka Honey’s exceptionally good antibacterial properties, and his laboratory research shows unmistakable proof. Manuka Honey, from New Zealand’s native Manuka plant, has been researched extensively ever since.
1995- At the University of Waikato, an entire branch of the Biochemistry department is designated as the “Honey Research Unit”, and set aside to study many different aspects and properties of Honey, and nothing else. Manuka Honey is one of the main focuses, but other honeys are studied as well.
From the mid 1990s to today, Manuka Honey has taken the international spotlight. The Honey Research Unit has grown into a thriving research center, and Manuka honey has gone from a regular table honey--not even a very popular table honey due to its very strong flavor -- to a value-added commodity. People still eat it, of course, and not all Manuka Honey is "active" -- that is, displaying the extraordinary antibacterial properties (among other properties) that have come to be known as the "Unique Manuka Factor" or UMF. A standard measure of activity is being established, but for now, the UMF is labeled in basic levels of activity. Research is being conducted to understand why some Manuka Honey is active and some is not, what affects the activity level, and the extent to which the activity level increases in storage (which it does). Even though it has been nearly two decades since the first published Manuka Honey research, we are still only at the beginning. **
Continuing evidence of this honey’s properties has piqued international interest, and jumpstarted the therapeutic honey industry—not only in New Zealand, but worldwide.
This is a patchy history, and by no means contains all mentions of Honey’s medicinal properties. I think that one could devote their entire lifetime to making that timeline, and still not find everything! Every library I wander into has different books on bees or beekeeping or honey or traditional medicines, and each reveals a different secret—or two – or hundreds – about these incredible properties of what we take to be such a simple substance, sitting in our little plastic bear.
And of course, this account does not even take into consideration the properties of beeswax, royal jelly, bee bread, bee venom, propolis, or bee pollen, all of which have been used for equally as long, through as many different cultures, in thousands of different ways to accomplish as many different goals.
The history of honey dates back to 3000 BC. At that time Lower Egypt was called Bee Land while Upper Egypt was Reed Land. Honey was first recorded as being used in medicine for basic cuts and scrapes. The Ebers Papyrus of the Ancient Egyptians around 1550 BC uses honey as the primary medicinal agent more than 147 of its healing formulas. The bee is featured frequently in Egyptian hieroglyphs and was favored by the pharaohs, often used as a symbol of royalty. The ancient Egyptians used honey as a sweetener, as a gift to their gods and even as an ingredient in embalming fluid. Honey was used to preserve the pharaohs that were mummified as a symbol of royalty. Honey cakes were baked by the Egyptians and used as an offering to the gods. The oldest know contraceptive was used in Egypt around 1500 BC. The women used a barrier of crocodile dung mixed with honey.
Sources:
http://www.health-benefits-of-honey.com/historyofhoney.html
http://www.natural-honey.org/history_of_honey.htm
http://www.honey-for-health.com/history-of-honey.html
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/RHE309/birthcontrlhist/
