Harvesting Raw Honey
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As the flora in the tropical forest changes throughout the year and there are shifts in the climate, so the taste of the honey evolves too. Which is why each honey is named after the month it was harvested, based on the Haab Maya calendar. |
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About the HAAB Calendar
Similar to our own calendar, the Haab Maya calendar is divided into a 365-day solar calendar. But it's also divided into 18 months of 20 days plus another month, Wayeb, which only lasts five days and is often used for meditation and reflection. Like our own familiar star signs, each of the 19 months has a glyph or a symbol, which represents the personality associated with each month. The study of the glyphs was often seen as a path for improvement of the soul, health, self-awareness and illumination.
In the Maya calendar there are several cycles all going on at the same time.
First, there is the Tzolk’in cycle which consists of the numbers 1-13 alternating against a cycle of 20 day names. This is known as the ‘galactic constant’. Then there are the days and months in the Haab known as the ‘armonic calibrator’.
The Haab was in use by at least 100 BCE and was created to be used in conjunction with the Tzolk’in.
In operation together, the Haab and Tzolk'in create a larger, 52-year cycle called the Calendar Round that was used not only by the Mayas but also by every other culture in Mesoamerica. The Classic Maya demonstrated with great skill and ease how our annual cycles are related with the galactic harmonic pattern.
It is the 260-day Tzolk'in, not the Haab that informs someone of their personality traits and destiny. While the Haab relates to the festival cycle and special moments.
In the Maya Haab calendar, the months function very much like ours do. Normally, day 1 Pop is considered the first day of the year. Just as January 1 is the first day of our year. After 20 days of Pop we move into the next month which is Wo. We go through the 20 days of Wo, and move on to the next month, which is Sip and so on.
The only unusual aspect of this calendar is that although there are 20 days in each of the 18 months, the last day of the month is not called the 20th. Instead, the last day of the month is referred to as the ‘seating,’ or ‘putting in place,’ of the next month. So, the day after 19 Pop is not 20 Pop, but instead the ‘seating of Wo.’
About the tropical forests
The Yucatán forests form a biological corridor that allows the exchange of species between the drier forests of northern Yucatán and the more humid environments of the southwest and Central America. The ecoregion constitutes one of the largest forest areas of the tropical Yucatán and it´s home to an amazing variety of bird species, from black and white owls, king vultures, and ocellated turkeys to harpy eagles, great curassows, scarlet macaws, Yucatán parrot among others. They house a total of 17 species of amphibians, 43 reptiles, 235 birds, and 94 mammals; of the total fauna, approximately 18 species are endemic.
Maya forests: Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico extending into northern Guatemala, and northern Belize
Biome: Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Conservation status: Vulnerable
Size: 26,900 square miles (69,700 square kilometers)
DRY FOREST
Situated in the northwest of the Yucatan Peninsula, and covering an area of approximately 20,000 km2 is an ecosystem known as the tropical dry forest.
It encompasses a small portion of the extreme north of the state of Campeche as well as part of the northeast and all the centre and west of the state of Yucatán.
This area has a low deciduous forest with trees of less than 15m in height on average, as well as tall trees that lose their leaves almost completely during the dry season, and an abundance of vines. The area is also a habitat for migratory birds. The climate is semi-dry or sub-dry and warm, with average annual temperature above 20ºC. While the average annual rainfall is between 500 and 1000mm, with rain falling in the summer.
This portion of the forest is an important area for many interesting bird species, including Caribbean elaenia, migratory species like prairie warblers and peregrine falcons, and species with local distributions like the Caribbean dove, the zenaida dove, and the black catbird.
MOIST FOREST
In the tropical, humid climate of the Yucatán Moist Forests, the temperature remains fairly constant throughout the year with average precipitation of 1,100–1,300 mm/year and it´s located at the junction between the physiographical provinces of Petén in the southeast and the Yucatán in the northwest.
Most of the Yucatán Forests have suffered some degree of perturbation so a great portion of the forest receives federal protection, in the form of several reserves and sanctuaries, including Calakmul and Sian Ka’an. Much of the forest in reserves remains intact, although some experts have suggested that a greater portion of Campeche, northwest to the Calakmul Reserve, should also be established as a protected area. This protection along with the southeastern flooded lands of Quitana Roo would connect the moist forests of Belize with the moist forests of Yucatán.
In the southeastern part of the region, where the land is swampy, is filled with chicle, fiddlewood, and chaca trees, and palms are scattered in the understory. The area is moderately flat, with elevations no higher than 390 m. were famous felines here include the ocelots that stalk monkeys and birds, jaguarundi that hunt for small rodents and ground nesting birds, and the secretive jaguar.
This ecoregion is continuously flooded, which allows for an enormous abundance of bryoflora (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts). In addition, these lands constitute the westernmost distribution of the truly tropical pine tree, Pinus caribaea var. Hondurensis. Most of the vegetation in this ecoregion is considered as subtropical forest, with fiddlewood tree, Lonchoccarpus yucatanensis, Malmea depressa, and Croton reflexifolius as the dominant vegetative species. Less abundant but characteristic vegetation of the region includes bloodwood tree, bullet tree, sapodilla tree, and Metopium browneii. Herbaceous plants and scrubs are abundant, while irregular hummocks of palm trees are distributed throughout.
Citations:Garrido-Rodríguez, D. 1990. Reserva de la Biósfera Calakmul, Campeche: problemática y perspectivas. In A.D. Cuarón, P. Balvanera, H.L. Peña, and A. Rojo-Curiel (editors), II Simposio Internacional sobre Areas Naturales Protegidas en México. 2-4 diciembre 1990. Memorias. ENEP-Iztacala, Centro de Ecología, UNAM. 92p.
Styles, B.T. 1993. El género Pinus: su panorama en México. Pages 385-408 in T. P.Ramamoorthy, R. Bye, A. Lot, and J. Fa (editors), Diversidad Biológica de México. Mexico: Orígenes y Distribución. Instituto de Biología, UNAM
Valero, A. Schipper, J. Allnutt, T. 2019. Southern North America: Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico extending into northern Guatemala, and northern Belize. https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/nt0181 Accessed May 15, 2019.
Oneearth Organisation, Jan Schipper, Yucatan Moist Forests