Maya Land: Listening to the Bees – Via Zoom

Register today to join the Sisters and other Franciscans For Earth on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, at 6:30 pm Central via Zoom, for a free screening and discussion of the film “Maya Land: Listening to the Bees.”

Register at www.fsolph.org/events/

According to the www.mayalandlisteningtothebees.com website, this 2022 film by FelixMundo Productions, Ltd, is “A story about the environmental conflict between GM soy growers and Maya Beekeepers in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. It reflects on what the environment and economy could look like if bee health was considered as a criterion of sustainable development. The film explores the pre-colonial and ongoing relationship between Maya people and their environment, in particular the milpa agricultural system (and its main crop, maize), sacred sinkholes (called cenotes), and sacred stingless bees, the Melipona.”

Like many indigenous groups (and Saint Francis of Assisi), “the Maya don’t view nature as a resource to take from, but as a collection of subjects with which to build reciprocal relationships.” A cornerstone of Maya culture is the relationship they have with sacred Melipona bees and the forests that these stingless bees live in. Unfortunately, in Mexico’s Yucantan Peninsula, these forests are being cut down in order to develop plantations that are fumigated with toxic pesticides. These farming practices that have spread across Yucatan kill bees, contaminate water, and encroach upon Maya land — all threatening Maya culture.