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Gifts from the Maya honeybee god By Franclyn Heinecke, Puyallup, Washington

Map of Quintana Roo in the Yucatan. A statue of the Maya honeybee god, Ah Muzen Kaab,

welcomes drivers to Playa del Carmen.

Beekeepers visiting Quintana Roo can see a lot more than Cancun’s hotel row and Playa

del Carmen’s 5th

Avenue stores featuring all things Mexico. The eco-park Xcaret1 has a

bee display that shows several melipona beecheii bee species native to the Yucatan

peninsula, and how hollowed logs are used for traditional hives. The ancient Maya ruins

of Tulum and Coba (Nat’l Inst. 2007) show carvings of the descending god who the

Maya call An Muzen Kaab, the god of the honeybee. As a gift from the gods, the Maya

believe that Xunan Kaab, the honeybee, should be handled with reverence and care

(Hursch 2009, Villanueva-G 2005).

Maya carvings on log hives at

Xcaret, with a tiny melipona bee

guarding the nest entrance.

1 “X” in Maya is pronounced as the English ”sh.” Xcaret is pronounced “Esh-caret.”

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A carving of the descending god at Tulum. Hearty people climbing Nohoch Mul, Coba’s “big

pyramid: with its top temple to the honeybee god.

At Coba, tour guides may point out a kaab (bee) nest in a tree where the jungle meets the

road on the way to the big pyramid. The dime-sized hive entrance is easy to miss, as is

the diminutive melipona beecheii guarding the entrance. Watch closely and you may see

the tiny bees returning to the hive with an almost invisible amount of pollen. This

species of bee is so small that 10 to 15 of them could fit on an average adult thumbnail.

The dime-sized melipona nest entrance is Close-up view shows the nest entrance and size

easy to miss on this tree in Coba’s jungle. of bees in relation to an adult fingernail.

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Tiny as it is, and facing similar threats as the U.S. honeybee, apis mellifera, the melipona

bee has, nonetheless, survived and so has its human caretaker, the traditional Maya

beekeeper.

Bees, beekeeping and honey were important to the ancient Maya (Hursch 2009,

Cortopassi-Laurino 2006). In Tulum, honey was one of the most important products

exported throughout Mesoamerica. The Spanish who arrived in the Yucatan in 1517

found bee yards with thousands of hives, making honey of great importance to the culture

and economy of the ancient Maya (Hursch, 2009). Looking at the beekeeper pages of the

Madrid Codex one can see the resemblance between stylized bees found there and

carvings of the descending god at Tulum and Coba. Bees and bee glyphs dominate many

of the Codex pages, with one plate showing what looks to be a major god honoring the

honeybee (FAMSI).

Plate from the Madrid Codex of Maya writings. Honeybee motif shows on many Madrid Codex pages.

Beekeeping continues to be one of the most important money-making activities for Maya

families today (Love 2004), closely linked with their spiritual way of life (Hursch 2009,

Cortopassi-Laurino 2006). The Maya are resilient, proud people who have survived “500

years of economic deprivation, political persecution and genocide” (National Geopraphic

2008). They continue to lead agriculture-based lives, but expanding tourism and

economic difficulties are challenging that way of life. Inviting eco-tourism to the villages

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may be one way to maintain their lifestyle while educating others about the unique Maya

culture and life perspective. It was just such an eco-tour that led to a chance meeting

with Don Crisanto Kahun Uc, a Maya shaman who has been keeping bees for 54 years.

He lives in the village of Tres Reyes, not far from the ruins of Coba. A few days later, a

second tour included the honor of visiting Don Crisanto’s home, meeting his family,

participating in the ritual bee ceremony, U-Hanil-Kaab (Villanueava et al 2005) and

learning about age-old beekeeping traditions among the Maya of the Yucatan peninsula.

Incense from a tree resin wafts through

the air as Don Crisanto prays and

prepares the ceremonial site. Stakes are

carefully placed at the four compass

points that represent different aspects of

the sun. From each stake, vines are

entwined and hung to cradle a woven

disc that supports a bowl of posole,

honey and pollen that Don Crisanto has

carefully prepared. The bowls of

posole are offerings to the gods, invited

through prayer to join the ceremony.

We three tourists and our translator are

asked to stand, one at each compass point, and are smoked with incense and sprinkled

with water to cleanse and prepare us for the gifts to come. Don Crisanto chants and

prays, invoking gods to bless the gathering and to protect both bees and people from

harm that the other could cause2.

2 Careless opening of hives sometimes kills bees and certainly disrupts the colony. While Melipona are

stingless bees, they do bite. Their bite deposits sticky resins and even a type of formic acid, and they

usually aim for the eyes, ears or mouth of an unwelcome hive intruder.

After blessing participants, Don Crisanto

smokes and blesses his hives.

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Following the Maya

tradition, at his home

Don Crisanto uses

hollow logs for his hives.

He has two melipona

species here – one larger

variety and the tiny bee

seen earlier at Coba. To

open the hives, he must

first chip loose the mud

that seals the cork-

shaped end piece.

Rather like chipping

away propolis, it’s slow

and steady work that can

take some time.

He points out a honey “pot” made

of cerumen – a mixture of bees wax

and plant resin (Roubik 2006).

Melipona bees deposit nectar in pot

chambers and, when the nectar is

cured, it is closed with more

cerumen. Don Crisanto gingerly

removes the pot, opens a honey

chamber and treats us to a taste of

his bees’ fine work. Melipona

honey has 30 percent water (Vit et

al 2004) and, therefore, ferments

after a few months. Because of

that, it must be used more quickly

than mellifera honey, with 18.6 or

less percent of water. Maya

beekeepers harvest up to five or six

times a year, selling their honey to

farmer cooperatives, at local

markets, or along village streets.

Such harvesting provides fairly

regular and needed cash income at

frequent intervals (Love 2004).

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In his other hive

are the tiny

melipona species.

Upon opening

the hive, he

points out the

batumen – a resin

layer that may

also include mud,

seeds, wood and

feces of

vertebrates used

to seal the inner

hive chamber

from the outside

environment

(Roubik 2006).

The batumen can

be up to 10 cm

thick, rock hard and difficult to open. Don Crisanto chips through the batumen and

exposes the inner hive. In Maya he exclaims, “Oh, the babies are coming out!” With 38

cells in a brood area the size of a quarter, it’s difficult to see the tiny “babies”– tiny

melipona bees are emerging from their cells.

With such a tightly structured nest, what about hive ventilation? Roubik (2006) explains

that the melipona use a “tidal exchange” of gases that helps the hive “breathe.” With

controlled nest entrance fanning, worker bees are able completely exchange the nest air in

one to seven hours. Melipona bees carry water out of the hive. Latrines are maintained

inside the nest, where mutualist organisms consume adult bee defecations (Roubik 2006).

Don Crisanto notes other differences between the melipona and the mellifera bees:

• Melipona queens mate only once.

• Drones are able to collect food from flower sources.

• Colonies must build new nest sites before swarming.

• Nurse bees do not feed young. Rather, enough pollen and nectar is stored in each

cell for bee development.

Also worth noting are some of the challenges to traditional Maya melipona beekeeping

(Cortopassi-Laurina et al 2006, Villanueva-G, Rogel et al 2005):

• A shift in worldwide production has hurt Mexico’s honey economy. Until 30

years ago, the three states on the Yucatan peninsula (Quintana Roo, Yucatan and

Campeche) led the world in honey exports. Now, China and Argentina lead.

• Increased development with a related decrease in natural bee foraging areas.

• Resource competition from mellifera bees makes it harder for melipona bees to

find food.

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• Melipona honey, with its higher water content, is becoming more difficult for

traditional beekeepers to sell; the mellifera honey has a longer shelf life.

• Increased use of pesticides and herbicides that compromise bee health.

• Difficult economic conditions that cause many Maya to leave villages to find

work in tourist cities.

• The need to educate traditional beekeepers about such strategies as supplemental

feeding, controlled honey harvest, and hive splitting.

At least in Tres Reyes, Don Crisanto reports that his bees are doing well. The logs are

ready for hive splitting. Hopefully, next year he will get a good harvest of honey that, he

says, is even better as medicine than as a sweetener (Vit, et al 2004). Before leaving his

hives, Don Crisanto reverently rubs the inside of the logs with leaves to cover his human

scent, and carefully recorks the logs. We all return to the ceremonial alter to partake of

the posole, thanking each other and the bees for a memorable day in the Yucatan when

we received gifts of knowledge and understanding from the royal lady – Xunan Kaab, the

melipona honeybee.

Maya bee ceremony participants drinking the posole beverage (from left) Shaman Don Crisanto, his

children Ana (age 5) and Rodrigo (3), translator Juan Carlos Montano Gonzales, author Franclyn

Heinecke and her sisters Roxanne Neveau and Robyn Medeck.

Special thanks:

* Muchas gracias, Juan Carlos Montano Gonzalez, for working so hard to make this tour happen and for

providing such thoughtful translation.

* Hach yum booltic, Don Crisanto for your serene, gentle teaching ways and for opening your hives to us.

* Hach yum booltic, melipona kaab.

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References:

Coe, Michael and Mark Van Stone, 2001. Reading the Maya Glyphs; Thames and

Hudson, Ltd., London

Cortopassi-Laurino, Marilda et al., 2006. Global meliponiculture: challenges and

opportunities; Apidologie 37, 275-292.

FAMSI – Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerica Studies, Inc.; Maya

Hieroglyphic Writing: The Ancient Maya Codices, the Madrid Codex pdf.

FAMSI.org/mayawriting/codices/Madrid; downloaded Oct 2, 2009.

Hursh Graber, Karen, 2009. Honey: a sweet Maya legacy.

Mexconnect.com/articles/3286-honey-a-sweet-legacy; downloaded Oct 3, 2009.

Love, Bruce, Ph. D., 2004. Maya Culture of the Yucatan Today. Editorial Dante S.A. de

C.V., Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.

National Geographic Society, 2008. Chris Johns, Editor. Mysteries of the Maya.

National Geographic Society, 1989. Wilbur Garrett, Editor. La Ruta Maya,

Vol. 176. No. 4, pages 424-505.

National Institute of Archaeology and History, 2007. Coba – History, Art and

Monuments. Monclem Ediciones, Mexico S.A. de C.V.

Roubik, David W., 2006. Stingless bee nesting biology, Apidologie 37, 124-143.

Villanueva-G, Rogel, David Roubik and Wilberto Calli-Ucan, 2005. Extinction of

melipona beecheii and traditional beekeeping in the Yucatan Peninsula. Bee World 86,

35-41.

Vit, Patricia, Margarita Medina and Maria Eunice Enriquez 2004, Wuality standards for

medicinal uses of Meliponinae honey in Guatemala, Mexica and Venezuela, Bee World

85, 2-5.