|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Who is Tending the Hive?: Beekeeping's Unique Role in Russian Society
| Article
# : |
11263 |
|
|
Section : |
CULTURE
|
| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1993 |
3,998 Words |
| Author
: |
Daniel W. Marshall
Daniel W. Marshall is a free-lance writer based in Missouri
whose most recent article, "Feeding the Spirits: Minnesota's
Wild Rice Harvest," appeared in the August 1995 Culture
section of The World & I. |
Five years ago Andrei Ulyanichev and Yuri Shapranov worked side by side, mastering the art of beekeeping. They tended government-owned beehives near Adler, a town in the Caucasus Mountains near the Black Sea. The region has been a center of beekeeping since before the time of the czars. Their jobs were secure and risk free. They received a moderate salary and benefits, and the government covered all expenses and losses.
Today Shapranov cares for his own hives and brings home ten times as much money as his former coworker. But, along with his increased salary, Shapranov has to endure greatly increased risk. Inflation, cold weather, and government bureaucracy could obliterate his investment. It is a gamble not every Russian is eager to take. "I envy him, but morally I am not ready to stop working for the government," explains Ulyanichev.
The changes in beekeeping in and around Adler demonstrate the shift from centralized planning to a free-market economy that is occurring throughout Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Among beekeepers, however, the transition is aided by the fact that, throughout the communist era, a well-developed industry of "hobbyist" beekeepers existed alongside the official system of collective farms. Hobbyists--who held other, government-approved, jobs and cared for bees in their spare time at home--were responsible for approximately half of the nation's gross honey production.
Indeed, beekeeping and the demand for inexpensive honey have long occupied a unique place in Russian history and culture. Beekeeping products--honey and wax--were one of the country's most important products until the nineteenth century. Without sugar or a climate suited to growing grapes, Russians derived their sweets exclusively from honey. It was added to dough to make honey bread and a wide variety of cookies; it was even consumed straight from the hive. Honey was fermented to make a wide variety of alcoholic drinks, mead, honey beers, and wines. So widespread was the use of honey that it became traditional to conclude Russian fairy tales with the comment, "I was there and drank honey wine; it dripped from my mustache, but to my mouth--it didn't come near!"
Wealth Measured in Honey
From the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, Russian wealth was measured in terms of furs, honey, and wax. Honey production is estimated to have reached at least 2 million tons a year at the start of the sixteenth century, and 800 tons of wax were
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
