Bee bearding

Bee bearding is the practice of wearing several hundred honey bees on the face, usually as a sideshow-type demonstration at agricultural shows. Hive bees are attracted into position by a queen in a small cage worn under the chin.^[1][2]

History of bee bearding

Though beekeepers since ancient times have allowed bees to rest on their bodies in order to demonstrate their rapport with the insects, the practice of congregating measurable quantities of bees on the face was initiated by Petro Prokopovych, a Ukrainian beekeeper, in the 1830s. The practice spread to various "freak" exhibitions at American carnivals by the end of the nineteenth century.

Bee-bearding records

The record for the "heaviest mantle of bees" is held by a Chinese national, Ruan Liangming, who was filmed by Guinness World Records wearing an estimated 637,000 bees, including about 60 queen bees, weighing about 63.5 kilograms, in May 2014.^[3]

In weddings

In 2009, couple Li Wenhua and Yan Hongxia of Ning'an, China, both beekeepers, married while both were covered in bees.^[4]

Bee bearding in fictional works

• In the 2008 The Simpsons episode "The Burns and the Bees", Lisa Simpson wears a beard of bees to help the local population of bees flourish.
• The episode "Aptitude" on the series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody shows Zack looking at a video called "Beard of Bees" on a YouTube-like website.
• In Bee Movie, as a video clip on a bee news program, a crowd of bees chants "No More Bee Beards! No More Bee Beards!"
• In the King of the Hill episode "Mutual of Omabwah", Dale Gribble wears a bee beard.
• In the 2000 Malcolm in the Middle episode "The Bots and the Bees", Hal wears a beard of bees as a result of his battle robot.

References

Further reading

• Frank Sennett, "No. 80: Bee Bearded," 101 Stunts for Principals to Inspire Student Achievement (Corwin Press, 2004), 116-117.