Bees_10 Placing the Dead and Nurturing the Living: Documentation of house- construction and terrace farming in Zargulla, an endangered Omotic language

Mr At’inafu comes to help with moving the bees into the hive Aynalem has prepared. As he approached the compound he engages in joking conversation with Mr Tariku and a number of others who were preparing a fence-door. Mr At’inafu and Aynalem prepare the place to put the bee-hive. Then Mr Atinafu skillfully moves the bees into the hive. First he made the working bees “move” from the stick to a plastic mat that he spread on the ground so that he can untie the queen-bee from the stick and tie it inside the bee-hive. Once he has done that, he layed the bee-hive on the ground supported by stones. Subsequently, he brought the plastic mat with the working bees close to the opening of the bee-hive in which the queen-bee is placed. Following this, the large number of working bees which were spread on the mat swiftly move into the hive. Then Mr At’inafu explains in Amharic to Azeb what the next step is: for about three days the bee-hive will be kept open so that the bees can freely come and go and become familiar with the hive and the area. Around the third day, one can observe that they carry something on their hind-leg. This indicates that the bees have settled and wish to stay so the bee-hive owner can now place the lid on the bee-hive. At different times during the session, various people come and converse with Mr At’nafu. The recoding was done by Azeb Amha using Panasonic HC-W580 video camera