Bees occupy a central place in the economic and ritual life of several peoples of Mesoamerican tradition. Among the Maya, the management of the stingless Melipona bee (Melipona beecheii Bennett), a native species whose adaptation to the forests and milpas of the region has provided food and medicine to local populations for generations, is well documented. In different regions of central Mexico, beekeeping has been revitalized as part of a biocultural heritage that fosters local autonomy and reflects the continuity of ecological knowledge, as well as the reciprocal relationship between human beings and nature.
The management of bees is not separate from the cosmovision or from agricultural and meteorological rituals; consequently, some communities of southeastern Mexico hold collective ceremonies on the Day of the Holy Cross, May 3, to request good harvests and to commune with the bees. Likewise, maize and honey are offered to the Owners of the Forest, entities associated with fertility. The association between these insects and the powers of fertility and renewal is reaffirmed in Maya myths concerning the creation of humanity; the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel recounts the prehuman existence of different varieties of bees and flowers. Each bee occupied a pathway of the cosmos and was marked by a color. Human beings are considered descendants of the bees, an idea that remains current in communities of Campeche, where these insects are recognized as “people of noble heart” who possess the knowledge of Maya culture. This identification between humans and bees leads beekeepers to grant funerary treatment to the insects when they die.
As beings linked to the prehuman eras and to fertility, bees also maintain connections with the underworld. There are various representations in central Mexico in which honey appears as an expression of the riches that lie within the Sacred Mountain. In this sense, beehives are conceived as the present-day manifestation of the primordial mountain. Among the Maya, jars are associated with darkness and are still used to prepare ritual fermented beverages made from honey, balché tree bark, and water.