Bee bearding is the practice of wearing several thousand

honey bees A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to mainland Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the ...

on the face, usually as a

sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, traveling carnival, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “Freak show, freak shows”), pr ...

-type demonstration at

agricultural shows An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which breeding stock is exhib ...

. Hive bees are attracted into position by a

queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

in a small

cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayi ...

worn under the chin.

History

Though

beekeepers A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees, a profession known as beekeeping. The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees in beehives, boxes, or other receptacles. The beekeeper does not control the creatures. The beekeeper ...

since ancient times have allowed bees to rest on their bodies to demonstrate their rapport with the insects, the practice of congregating measurable quantities of bees on the face was initiated by

Petro Prokopovych Petro Prokopovych (1775–1850, ) was a Ukrainian beekeeper who made revolutionary contributions to the practice. They include the founding of commercial beekeeping and the invention of the first movable frame hive. He introduced novelties in tra ...

, a Ukrainian beekeeper, in the 1830s. The practice spread to various "freak" exhibitions at Russian

carnivals Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

by the end of the 19th century.

Records

Indian man Vipin Seth set a world record for wearing a mantle of bees weighing 61.4 kilograms. The current record for the "heaviest mantle of bees" is held by a Chinese national, Ruan Liangming, who was filmed by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

wearing an estimated 637,000 bees, including about 60 queen bees, weighing about 63.5 kilograms, in May 2014. As of August 31, 2017, the record for the longest time wearing a beard of bees was 61 minutes.

References

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History

Records

References

Further reading