LIVING BEEKEEPING HERITAGE EXPERIENCES

Nikos Birlirakis, one of the last traditionalists

Apiaries like the one of Nikos Birlirakis, in Mikra Anogia, Rethymno, there are few. Because, in his apiary, alongside modern hives, some of the last remaining clay hives with movable honeycombs, the traditional cretan vraskia, are in use. Nikos, an experienced beekeeper and culture enthusiast, learned the traditional beekeeping method from his father, and old local beekeepers. He practiced it to preserve and develop it. In his apiary, besides inherited vraskia, he placed replicas of old vraskia made by the traditional potter Markos Dandolos from Margarites, Rethymno, for BEELOSOPHY. 

The importance of our visit

Visiting the apiary of Nikos Birlirakis, we were lucky enough to learn and record the traditional beekeeping method with movable-comb hives, which is a cultural heritage of our country. The movable-comb hives used in this method were popular in ancient Greece in the 3rd century B.C., if not earlier. They became known in the West in the 17th century and still remain in use in Greece to this day. These hives had a decisive influence on the development of global beekeeping. Indeed, Lorenzo Langstroth in the United States of America was based on the Greek movable-comb hives to define the bee space and create the modern frame hive in 1852, which has become the most popular in the world.

The vraski and its use

Nikos showed us an old vraski, a family heirloom, and explained how canonia (top bars-slats) are built, placed and handled. He spoke of strong bee colonies that, depending on the season, might seal the anemologo (ventilation hole just above the entrance of the hive) with propolis. He told about placing branches of ferns, mastic, plane trees or oleander on (or under) the saliera (top cover) to shade them in hot summer months, and much more. Then, Nikos inspected a vraski populated with bees, presenting details of the method.

Transferring bees from a modern hive to a vraski

With the help of his daughter Evangelia, Nikos tranferred live a bee colony from a modern hive to a vraski!

[It should be noted that, since traditional beekeeping is on the verge of extinction, the common known process is the reverse - the transfer from a traditional to a modern hive. Therefore, this demonstration is valuable for safeguarding the traditional beekeeping method, as well as for its transmission through formal or informal educational].

For the swap, we cut pieces of comb brood and food reserves from a bee colony established in a modern hive, and temporarily fixed them on the canonia. Bees then permanently secure the honeycombs, and remove the temporary bindings (which may be fig leaves, bark, sticks, twine, tape, etc.). Eventually, we gave life to a vraski by placing the canonia inside with the entire bee population, leaving the colony undisturbed to rebuild and settle in their "furnished" new home.

Manolis Spitadakis, a beekeeper from the past

An old bearer of the traditional beekeeping method, Manolis Spitadakis, recounted stories from his time. Manolis remembered placing vraskia in east-southern spots so they caught morning sun for many hours daily. He spoke to us with admiration about the "first" (queen bee), and described the job;s hardships with the tools of the time. Manolis also informed us about the practice of feeding bees sugar on a slice of bread placed inside the hive - a practice not recorded elsewhere in Greece.

Other bearers of traditional beekeeping

During our tour in Crete for primary research, we met other practitioners of the traditional beekeeping method using movable-comb hives. We visited Ioannis Sopasis's apiary in Apladiana, Rethymno, where, besides frame hives, clay vraskia are used. At the beekeeping tourism unit Apithano (Melidoni Mylopotamos, Rethymno), Christos Andrikos presented vraskia preserved as exhibits for visitors to learn about beekeeping tradition. 

Through the action "Traditional beekeeping in movable-comb hives", BEELOSOPHY aims to contribute to the promotion, preservation, and safeguard of the Greek traditional method of beekeeping using movable-comb hives.