Lorsch Bee Blessing


The Lorsch Bee Blessing is a bee-keeping prayer intended to bring home honey bees in good health to their hives. It is believed to have been written in the 9th century, and was discovered in a manuscript from the monastery in Lorsch, Germany, famous for the Lorsch Codex. Despite being a Christian prayer written in Old High German, it has remarkable similarities to the Anglo-Saxon and apparently pagan "For a Swarm of Bees" magic charm, and may reflect a common pre-Christian Germanic cultural heritage.

Text

Old High German

Translation