How to celebrate honey and bees on St. Modomnoc's?

February 7, 2010 5:24 PM

This year I'm hoping to celebrate St. Modomnoc's Day instead of St. Valentines. (It falls on Feb 13 and Modomnoc is the patron saint of bees and beekeeping, a nice way to subvert the commercial valentines machine.) My question: what are your best food and drink recipes, crafts, pastimes, or activities that I could make or do to celebrate honey or bees with my friends and/or boyfriend?
posted by dahliachewswell to Food & Drink (31 answers total)

I know nothing about St. Modomnoc's Day, but I know this: you must drink mead.
posted by jeoc at 5:26 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

Make a simple cyser.
posted by fings at 5:33 PM on February 7, 2010

I'm a fan of these sour cream and honey cakes. They're great served warm, which is nice in the winter. They're sweet without being cloying, similar to a scone.
posted by jedicus at 5:37 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The National Honey Board has a bunch of recipes you can use for inspiration.

You could get some beneficial flower seeds started for transplanting into your garden when the weather warms. It may be a bit early to actually plant the seeds, but you could decorate some flower pots as a craft.

You could make a skep.
posted by onhazier at 5:40 PM on February 7, 2010

Listen to Emily Ritz's band, Honeycomb (AKA Honeybody Moonbee)!
posted by chez shoes at 5:44 PM on February 7, 2010

Make homemade version of the australian candy Violet Crumble, which is honeycomb! One recipe here and another here. Or just buy some.
posted by acidic at 5:44 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

You and your boyfriend can suck honey off of each other's toes. That's what I'd do, anyway.
posted by Evangeline at 5:53 PM on February 7, 2010

Stripes, paper boats (place three life/travel blessings inside and give them to friends), and mead.

I love this post/idea more than I can express, btw. Thanks for asking; I would have never known about this happy little holiday otherwise.
posted by iamkimiam at 6:14 PM on February 7, 2010

Voice of the Beehive
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:15 PM on February 7, 2010 [3 favorites]

Make beeswax candles.
posted by Sassyfras at 6:16 PM on February 7, 2010

This is probably what you are looking for in name only but I've always liked the idea of honeydust.
posted by jessamyn at 6:29 PM on February 7, 2010

Best answer: A couple of Elvis songs that involve bees:

I Got Stung

Big Hunk o" Love


Pomade your hair in a beehive with beeswax
posted by effluvia at 6:47 PM on February 7, 2010

Make this cake: Majestic and Moist Honey Cake. Just do it. You won't regret it.
posted by mollymayhem at 6:49 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

The Romans made offerings requesting money by putting coins in honey.
posted by effluvia at 6:50 PM on February 7, 2010

PS: I think I might rope a few friends into doing something like this too. Awesome idea.
posted by mollymayhem at 7:01 PM on February 7, 2010

maybe you can eat some haagen dazs and help save some bees.
posted by timory at 7:22 PM on February 7, 2010

Check out tayglach or taiglach. It is an Ashkenazi (Eastern European/Jewish) recipe for dough balls boiled in honey. Totally sticky! Here is a sample recipe although I haven't tried it myself.
posted by metahawk at 7:51 PM on February 7, 2010

Melt together 1 part beeswax to 2-3 parts apricot kernel oil (or an oil of your choice). When cool, add a few drops of essential oil if you like. Voila: a bee-based massage oil!
posted by GardenGal at 8:07 PM on February 7, 2010

Best answer: You could watch The Wicker Man and make fun of it.

NOT THE BEES!
posted by mmoncur at 9:04 PM on February 7, 2010

Watch an old school Winnie-the-Pooh movie from the 1970s/80s (specifically Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Tree), or read some of the stories aloud. Pooh Bear loves honey!
posted by k8lin at 9:49 PM on February 7, 2010

A little off topic, but this year Chinese New Year Eve also falls on the 13th if you'd like to incorporate other celebrations/customs into your plans.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 12:28 AM on February 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

edible flowers as garnish cause of the bees/flower/fruit connection?
posted by The Whelk at 5:10 AM on February 8, 2010

mead, mead, and more mead.
posted by holdenjordahl at 7:53 AM on February 8, 2010

Molded honeycomb--similar to fancy jello, but better.
posted by ifjuly at 8:54 AM on February 8, 2010

Oh, and Spirit of the Beehive.
posted by ifjuly at 8:56 AM on February 8, 2010

Van Morrison, "Tupelo Honey"
posted by effluvia at 10:44 AM on February 8, 2010

"Honeycomb" by ... Jimmie Rogers? *googling* Yes! Got it in one! Anyways, a fun hokey old-timey proto-rock-n-roll song.

Also, frickin awesome idea. I'm thinking of doing this from now on.
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 1:03 PM on February 8, 2010

Oooh, if you need illustrations or inspiration: www.beedogs.com
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 1:05 PM on February 8, 2010

Response by poster: this...is...AWESOME! i only marked a couple best answers for the sake of time, they're all great. this makes me even more excited to plan a bigger and better st. modomnoc's celebration every year from now on. as for what i actually did, my busy schedule got the best of me so i ended up just enjoying a delicious dessert with boyfriend at home: delicious local wildflower honey drizzled on top of good ricotta.
posted by dahliachewswell at 3:44 PM on February 19, 2010

Response by poster: oh and p.s., just for clarification: i don't know of any actual tradition in any catholic culture celebrating of st. modomnoc on large scale, he just happens to the be the saint for feb. 13. though, there may be some devotees somewhere or local veneration at the church he helped found in ireland. it would be interesting to find out if there is any historical precedent for modomnoc devotion.
posted by dahliachewswell at 3:50 PM on February 19, 2010

Just for future reference I guess (for myself too)--and you could listen to Helium's song "Honeycomb" yay.
posted by ifjuly at 11:20 AM on February 20, 2010