Social science meets life science... and citizen science!

Saving the bees through ancientknowledgeEgle Marija Ramanauskaite

Prospectus thesis in Education Science, Biology and Citizen Science

- Traditions & tricks are still shared through generations

- Proportion of people still practice "customary beekeeping" - newfamily members gets a beehive assigned to them, signifying each beefamily

- People retain some ancient rituals, e.g. visiting the bees at specifictimes

- Almost everybody in Lithuania knows at least something aboutbeekeeping, without having ever kept a beehive

Beekeeping is a culturally embedded practice

in Lithuania

Bees to this day remain spiritualized:

Lithuanian bee god ­ Bubilas.

Lithuanian bee goddess ­ Austeja.

- Bees are a symbol of - and aword for - FRIENDSHIP:

- The death of a bee family is seenas a bad omen and oftensuperstitiously linked to deaths offamily and friends

- A bee is said to die as a person,not as an animal

Respected for their ability towork as a CROWD :)

- Bees are idealized as "hard-working","honest", "generous" , "fair", "clean","friendly" and "brave"

žmogus miršta; bitelė miršta

- Only reside in "good households"with "honest keepers"

- Help foster the ties of friendship viasharing of bee families

Bitė - Bičiulis

darbščios, draugiškos, švarios,sąžiningos, nesavanaudės, narsios

create a platform to share local practices & link the data to

existing CS projects on sustainable agriculture

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4suggest applicable DIY tools and encourage

beekeepers to monitor and contribute population data

cross-check the data to evaluate the effects of

specific practices

characterize cultural knowledge

transmission in the context of beekeeping

in Lithuania, and its relevance in modern

beekeeping practices.