Cutting and installing a bee trunk (Atauro, East Timor) ; Construction et installation d’un tronc à abeilles (Atauro, Timor oriental) ; Tesi no halo bani latan, Atauro, Timor-Leste

This video editing in Tetum combining pictures, sounds and texts of the construction and setting up of a bee trunk (a section of tree trunk used to attract a honeybee swarm) has been produced in three different languages within the framework of the ANR POPEI on the collaborative approach to heritage (2019-2022). It has been on the island of Atauro in Timor Leste in March 2021. Two articles, one on the technic to attract bee swarms (hal-03772687) and the local pratices in Atauro (ird-03494532) can be find on HAL.During general flowerings, the swarms of the giant Asian honeybee (Apis dorsata) build nests in the open-air hanging underneath the branches of large trees or on rock cliffs. Keen observers of their environment, many inhabitants of the villages of Atauro island offer migrating swarms an artificial support under which the bees can settle and build their single-comb nest. A bee trunk which they name anglatan in Ratlungu (bani latan in Tetum). The swarm settled and its wax comb built, honey is harvested by smoking the bees.Rodolfo has sawn a tree trunk that he cuts and shapes to obtain a bee trunk. He has identified in his gardena suitable location to install it. Situated in a rock depression, the site is open but sheltered from the wind. Bees will be able to circulate easily from their nest. Slightly inclined, the trunk is adjusted to the site - here a fissure between two rocks - then one end is held by stones in the rock wall. Branches that carry leaves are arranged (rumun) on top of the trunk to protect the future nest from direct sunlight and rain. The foliage will be changed regularly until the arrival of the bees.Each harvester owns several bee trunks on their land or in the perimeter of their clan. Trunks are settled and prepared before the coming of the migrating swarms. The honey season is annual and lasts just over a month, with a harvest usually in April. With Rodolfo de Araujo (Kahi Kia). March 2021