Agria 27.-28. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 1991-1992)
Gunda Béla: Méhészkedés a magyarságnál
Béla Gunda Bee-keeping of the Hungarian Peasantry Already in their early historic period (in their country of origin next the Ural) the Hungarians knew the bee and consumed honey. At the beginning they obtained honey by means of bee-hunting, but along the Ural mountains they als practised forest beekeeping: the bee-keeper tends the bees far away from his home, in hollow forest trees and artificial cavities of the trees. Survivals of bee-hunting and forest bee-keeping can still be found among the Hungarians in our days (Northern Hungary, Transdanubia, Transylvania, Figs. 13-20). In the Middle Ages apiculture was of special importance. Some place-names demonstrate the existence of villages, the inhabitants of which were mostly engaged in apiculture. In the domains of the Church and of landlords there were special bee-masters working. Not only honey was wanted, but wax too. The Church often inflicted punishments in wax. Towards the middle of the XVII th century Hungarian wax was purchased in Transylvania by Scottish merchants. The apiarist keeps the bees in the artificial beehomes (stock-hives, wicker- and straw-skeps, box-hives etc.) and takes care of them. His apiary is usually next to his living place, in the garden. However, he may settle apiaries farther away from his home and place the stock-hives among the branches of the forest and garden trees (Fig. 20). Those who have only a few bee-hives at the end of their house, keep them under the eaves (Figs. 26, 27). The primary bee-homes of the Hungarians are the stock-hives which are always set up vertically. The peasant often brings the stock-hives together with the bees from the forest, after having sawn off the appropriate part of a beech- or fir-tree (Figs 31-34). The cone-shaped wicker bee-skeps can be mainly found in the southern Hungarian ethnical areas (Fig. 4). The wicker-skeps are pre-Indo-European remains of apiculture, and have been adopted by the Hungarians probably from the Southern Slavs. The dome-shaped wicker bee-hives are probably imitations of the straw-skeps (Figs. 43, 47, 72). Since the XVI th century the straw-skeps were spreading in the peasant farms from the West. Especially in the Great Hungarian Plain the bee-keepers used bulrush instead of straw for plaiting the bee-hives. The bee-hive made of bark is a Mediterranian cultural trait of the Hungarians (Figs. 40, 41), which occurs in the Eastern Carpathians among the Roumanians and Ukranians as well. In Northern Hungary and among the Roumanians in Transylvania bees were kept in rock-cavities. In Transylvania we may still find frequently frameless bee-hives made of board (Figs. 26, 27, 41). Already at the beginning of the XIX th century it was attempted in Hungary to use bee-hives assembled of frames (Fig. 60). Of course, the bee-hives have different local variants. So, for instance, the stock-hives will be carved in the shape of saints and human (Fig. 38). According to popular belief the swarm would not escape from such hives. Since the XVII th century apiculture was promoted by various hand-written and printed apiarian books. At the beginning, these books contained only descriptions of beliefs and magic acts. The English Apiary by John Gedde appeared in Hungarian translation already in 1759, and later in 1768 and 1781. As far as popular bee-keeping of the XVII-XVIII th centuries and even of later periods is concerned, it may be said that the bee-keeper was not so much a practical apiarist, but much rather a sorcerer. Here just a few of the plentiful collection of magic acts and witchcraft. Wicker skeps are not made any more after the first spring cry of the cuckoo, because the bees would not remain in such a skep. The proper time for making a wicker-skep is the first 367
