Ah Mulcen the Maya honey god holding glyph that can be interpreted as Honey, Bee, or Earth
The modern day Maya believe in the Laws of Nature that have been passed on to them from their ancestors. They know they must ask permission from the gods every time they take something from Earth, and that appropriate thanks must be given afterwards.
Gifts from the earth are considered sacred, and so the harvest of honey involves spiritual ceremonies and rites. For example, in order to ensure a good honey harvest, el x’men (the shaman) performs a ceremony to Ah Mulcen – the god of honey, and as soon as the first honey is collected he takes a small portion, to be used later in a celebration of thanks offered to the four bacabes – the guardians of the countryside.
A Maya codex, the TRO CORTESIANO, contains dozens of representations of bees, their hives and the symbol caban, which can mean either earth or honey. On the pages of the codex, we see repeated figures of Ah Mulcen, the god of honey, and Yuum Kaax, the Maya corn god, performing tasks related to apiculture.
Four bees from TRO CORTESIANO Codex
For example, on one page we can see four containers used for collecting honey – each represents a season of the year. In another place we see the gods protecting a palapa and the jobones or corchos – the hollowed-out dry logs where the bee hives are kept.
Many chronicles from the XVI Century, written by such historians as Cristóbal de San 
Martín from Cansahcab, Iñigo Nieto from Citilcum, Hernando de Bracamonte from Tekit, and Juan de Magaña from Sotuta, make reference to the melipona bees and the high quality wax and honey they produce. They also speak of Balché, a ceremonial drink made from honey and the fermented bark from the balché tree.
Diego de Landa makes many references to honey production and the preparation of Balché that was used during Maya ceremonies throughout the year. He also describes rites performed by the elders during the Maya months of Tzec and Mol (October and part of December)
Smoking out the bees in order to harvest honey
Giovanni Francesco Mayoli, an Italian doctor who lived in Valladolid during the XVIII Century wrote a manual about the traditional medicine practiced by the Maya. He also observed that the Maya society was a collective organization – like a bee hive. Each individual is a worker bee who labors for the common good. The queen is the ruler, the instructor, and is charged with the responsibility of keeping the hive healthy and productive. She is assisted by the hive’s guardian bee, the Balamil cab, who watches the entrance and keeps hostile insects away.
Honey harvest
In Yucatan, despite the hot humid climate, approximately 2,500 species of plant life thrive. All of them depend on the bees to pollinate and promote genetic diversity.
La melipona is an internationally recognized symbol of Yucatan. The bees’ main enemies are fires set to clear fields for planting corn, cutting of trees, hurricanes and drought. Since the 1950s the honey producers have received government subsidies, but without responsible building, forestry, farming and livestock grazing policies, the bees face increasingly aggressive adversity that will be difficult to overcome.
And we must remember that the unique ecosystem found in our peninsula cannot ever be replaced if it is lost
135: Creativity begets Creativity
Plants I saw in a parking lot, and sketched as I waited for friends…
Do you like to cook a meal (including a dessert from scratch) and share it with your friends? Or arrange a bouquet with flowers from your garden? How about when you run through the house like a tornado… moving furniture around, changing pictures, fluffing pillows? And do you sometimes turn the creativity on yourself and change your hair, experiment with make-up, or update the wardrobe?
Music is another endorphin release. Last week I hand-shredded 3 garbage bags (the BIG black ones) full of papers while Aretha Franklin, The Doors and Enya kept me company.
When I write a piece I like, it feels good. And when the words seem to be stuck behind a BIG
Better not fall asleep on a bus I’m on… because I might draw you
chunk of writers’ block, I pick up my sketch pad. Usually after drawing for an hour or so, I go back to the keyboard and it comes more easily.
But I like to draw any old time. As a girl, horses and dogs were favorite subject material. I fantasized as I drew… clothes I’d sew and houses I’d live in one day. I wanted to be an artist but my dad had very negative opinions about that aspiration. “What?” he thundered, “No daughter of mine will starve in some garret. Choose something practical! Be: 1. a nurse, 2. a secretary, or 3. a teacher.”
I draw what I enjoy doing
I opened Door Number 3, had a good run, and I forgot all about my art. For 30 years, I never even picked up a pencil.
Those who know my intuitive son Carlos smile when I tell the story of how I unwrapped his (rather large) Christmas present five years ago and a huge grin lit up my face. He had given me an easel, paints and a couple of canvases. “I think it’s time you take this up again,” he said.
About a month later, I remember feeling
Details of a museum painting in Italy
self-conscious as I packed a pad of paper and some pencils to take along with me on a trip to Chiapas. The first thing I attempted to render was the plant that trailed its way around the door frame. Not too bad, I thought. And emboldened by that first minor triumph, I had a pencil in hand almost the whole journey. I found I could approximate most things… people looked like people, but NOT the specific person I happened to be drawing. Buildings looked like buildings… ruins like ruins… plants like plants. But, I couldn’t replicate a carbon copy. That’s for sure!
I don’t have to be a “realistic” artist, I told myself. But I did see that little by little, I gained perspective and an artist friend re-taught me how to shade and shadow to create depth.
Yet being completely honest, I truly wish I could paint like this:
No I’ll never be Renoir, but creativity begets creativity and I can have fun just doing what I do.