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| Two copies of bee images -- one of which may be in front of a hive -- in the Madrid Codex,taken from "Animal Figures in the Maya Codices" (1910) with modification by the author. |
That's right,
the ancient Maya kept bees too! But they didn't keep honeybees, which
belong to the genus Apis. Instead, the Maya back
then raised one (or perhaps more) bees from
the Melipona genus -- made up of "stingless" bees,
or bees without stingers that work. The history of this activity kept
on even past the Conquest and into today -- its modern name is
meliponiculture.
The
Beginning
So
far, it looks like the specific part of the Preclassic Period called
the Late Preclassic is the oldest time that archaeologists know there
were beekeepers among the ancient Maya. As to where it began in the
Maya area, one possibility is a smaller area that included a part of Guatemala, Mexico and Belize. Another source states
that the first Maya keepers of stingless bees came from the Yucatan
Peninsula.
Species
As
you read, the Maya kept at least one kind of stingless bee, these
kinds of bees being species that cannot sting. The particular
species that we know the ancient Maya kept from was Melipona
beecheii. (They may have kept others species. In fact, one book
used as a reference for this article said that they also raised
species of the genus Trigona.)
Two
common names and some spellings for M. beecheii are
xunan kab/xunaan kaab/xunan cab and colelcab/kolil kab, which you may
see translated as "royal lady bee," "lady bee,"
or other similar terms. For making hives, xunan kab only pick
trees that have become hollow -- and the space in a tree has to be at
least 12 inches or so across. They're known to be good pollinators of
certain plants including vanilla, though they don't pollinate as many
flowers when they're out and about as other bees in the same genus.
Hives
From
what's understood, the ancient Maya kept their bees in hives that
were hollowed out logs -- though some used other things, like
limestone -- with the sides plugged up and with a hole on one long
side as an entrance/exit.
Archaeologists have found disks made of stone that they think were
plugs for hives' short sides-- they've found this kind of disk in the
Postclassic, Preclassic and Classic Periods.
Products
The
ancient Maya took both honey and cerumen -- or wax -- from their
bees. The ancient Maya used xunan kab wax as a sort of lighter
fluid for their torches. However, this wax not only spits but smokes
when you light it, so when it comes to burning solid pieces of wax,
honeybee wax is better for burning.
As
for the honey, it has a texture that is thinner than honey from
honeybees (of which a
popular variety is Apis mellifera.) Its color is also
darker, and the flavor of it is not the same as honeybee honey. One
way the ancient Maya used it was in their cooking, using it, for
example, as an ingredient in chocolate drinks. Another way they used
honey was for religious purposes: as an ingredient in a drink used in
rituals called balche -- a fermented mixture of honey,
balche/balché (Lonchocarpus longistylus) bark, and water
-- and as an offering to gods. A third way they used honey was
in medicinal practices -- like honeybee honey, xunan kab honey's
chemical makeup includes hydrogen peroxide, which can kill bacteria.
Gods
It
seems that the ancient Maya had more than one god of bees. But one
that we know about is Ah Mucen Kab. (You may also see other
spellings, such as "Mucen" given instead as "Mucan,"
"Musen," or "Muzen.") the Madrid Codex, you
can see pictures of bees, hives and gods next to beehives -- such
as Itzamná (god
D) -- in pages that you may see called the bee almanac.
Archaeologists think they've found examples of beehives and an image
of Ah Mucen Kab as parts of the design of an incense
burner/icensario/censer (from Cozumel) that may have been made around
1450 AD.
On a
related note, there's a theory that says the ancient Maya thought of
one of the Hero Twins, Xbalanque (also known as Yax Balam) had a
connection with bees.
Consideration
Here's
a 2011 video on the xunan kab (that I've also used as a reference) --
it includes some of what life is like for them and Maya beekeepers in
modern times:
References:
Stanford University: "Cultural Factors in the Survival ofStingless Bee Domestication (Meliponiculture)among the Yucatec Maya"; Genevieve Dezso"; June 2014
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