Corn, Agaves and Bees Shared by Mayas and Teenek

Abstract

The Teenek people of the Huasteca and the Maya people of the Yucatán peninsula, both belonging to the Protomaya linguistic family, occupy opposite ends of the Gulf of Mexico and despite many changes and problems they maintain the production of slash-and-burn agricultural system with the primary purpose of growing maize and other staple foods such as beans, yucca, squash, chili and sweet potato for family consumption. Although all their similarities, there are also issues that differentiate them. The aim is not to compare them in all aspects, but only to frame and try to explain how they share a specific breed of maize, the use of two close relatives of the Agavaceae family and the varied use of the honey of the American bee (Melipona). References to other topics such as work organisation, agricultural implements (technology), their efficiency, agricultural yields, measurements and uses form the context of the problem. The data concerning the Huasteca were obtained during fieldwork and from existing literature while those concerning the Maya come exclusively from other authors who have written on the subject.