In January 2019 Serena & Jared, along with their master beekeepers Johannes Loriz and Agata Chmielewska traveled to Taiwan to give two intensive workshops in Yilan and Taizhong on bees, beekeeping and the Weisenseifener Hanging Basket, or, as it is commonly called in English, the “Sun Hive”.
The Sun Hive was designed by German sculptor and architect Günther Mancke, whose idea was to build a home for the Bees that was deeply inspired by their natural sense of form, a structure that harmonises with the innate expressions of being that the Bees demonstrate most beautifully when allowed their native freedom. Therefore the first and foremost consideration in the design of the Sun Hive is the well-being of the bees, rather than the convenience of human beings.
Sun Hives in Taiwan
Through conversation, beehive-basket weaving, music and various movement exercises, the participants explored these themes and many others in a lively and collaborative way.
The following winter, Serena and Jared returned to Taiwan, where they gave two more courses - one in the Waldorf school in Yunlin, and the other in a Buddhist monastery in Hualian.
This has been the beginning of a growing movement in Taiwan around the Sun Hive, which is now independently growing and bubbling with lifeblood and initiative.
We are very much looking forward to the ongoing exchange and the further development of the Sun Hive in Taiwan.
The main themes of the courses were:
~ The hive as an organism ~
~ The relationship between humans and bees ~
~ Swarming ~
