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.
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“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
easy to miss on this tree in Coba’s jungle.
Close-up view shows the nest entrance and size
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.
After blessing participants, Don Crisanto
smokes and blesses his hives.
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.
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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 corkshaped 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.
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