Lorsch Bee Blessing

The Lorsch Bee Blessing (German: Lorscher Bienensegen) 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 (on fol.

220 in the Vatican Library, a copy of the Apocalypse of Paul) 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" (Old English "wiþ ymbe") magic charm.

It may reflect a common pre-Christian Germanic cultural heritage.