Medicinal Uses of Melipona beecheii Honey, by the Ancient Maya

Abstract

One characteristic medical practice of ancient Maya people was the extensive use of honey “kab” of the native stingless bee Melipona beecheii, “xunan kab.” The Maya traditional doctors “ah dzac” used the honey extensively as a fundamental part of their medicine. According to the ancient Maya, the illnesses cured with honey of Melipona were of supernatural origin. This honey was used to cure “cold” and “hot” diseases, respiratory, digestive, and sensory maladies, syndromes of cultural filiation, and the group of ailments known as fevers, wounds, burns, and poisonous stings or bites. The Maya supplied certain attributes to honey, considering it a divine product of special “kinam,” force, sent by the gods, an energetic and sacred food to assist man in controlling the diverse diseases that he suffered. The cause of the diseases and the melipona honey-healing processes are described in the prescriptions and incantations, carefully preserved in anonymous Mayan manuscripts.