VERA Platform_1204 Raul Fernandez "" iain Spanish Artisan image/jpeg IMAGE University of St Andrews VERA Platform "" image/jpeg Image "" image/jpeg Carmen Pérez Maestro Image "" image/jpeg Maria José Tudela Castro Image "" image/jpeg Maria José Tudela Castro Image "Bee-derived products. The honey is harvested and jarred by the beekeeper in containers of various sizes. Using beeswax and molds, he makes candles shaped like pallozas or chozos (traditional Asturian pastoral architecture) and beehives." Movable Heritage "A bee smoker is an essential tool in beekeeping, used to calm the bees and make hive inspections and honey collection easier. The smoker produces smoke that disrupts the bees\u2019 alarm pheromones, making them less aggressive. Manual smokers consist of a combustion chamber where fuel (such as straw or hay) is placed and lit to produce smoke; a bellows or blower, which pushes air into the combustion chamber to maintain the fire and the flow of smoke; and a spout or smoke outlet that concentrates the smoke so it can be directed toward the hive. In this case, we have both an old and a modern model of manual smokers\u2014the latter includes an external protective grid around the combustion chamber." Movable Heritage "Beekeeping has historically been an integral part of rural life in Asturias. According to the census conducted by the Marquis of Ensenada in the mid-18th century, a total of 65,813 beehives were documented in the region. The cultural and economic relevance of apiculture is reflected in practices such as the inclusion of hives and apiaries in dowries provided by parents to their daughters upon marriage, as well as in testamentary bequests\u2014such as that of Licentiate Juan Sierra de Casta\u00f1edo (from the municipality of Allande), who in 1659 stated: \u201ca good hive shall be given to the priest attending my death, and if there are two, each shall take one.\u201d The imposition of wax-based tributes by monastic institutions on Asturian peasants further contributed to the entrenchment, expansion, and institutionalization of beekeeping in the region. By 2007, official records indicated the presence of approximately 25,000 beehives within the Principality of Asturias. Of these, 13,232 were registered under the Federation of Beekeepers\u2019 Associations of the Principality of Asturias (FAPI), and were managed by a total of 776 apiarists. Asturias exhibits an average of approximately 15 hives per beekeeper, with a significant number of practitioners operating at small scale. This pattern reveals a high degree of dispersion of beekeeping activity across the Asturian territory. While the overall volume of honey production may be modest, the ecological benefits in terms of pollination, as well as the high quality of bee-derived products\u2014such as honey, pollen, and propolis\u2014underscore the continued importance of apiculture in the region. " Intangable Heritage 43.27386 -6.0009365