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. 58r of the ''Pal. lat. 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 The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

and apparently pagan " For a Swarm of Bees" (Old English "''wiþ ymbe''") magic charm, and may reflect a common pre-Christian Germanic cultural heritage.Grendon (1909:209)

Text

Old High German

:''Kirst, imbi ist hûcze'' :''Nû fliuc dû, vihu mînaz, hera'' :''Fridu frôno in munt godes'' :''gisunt heim zi comonne'' :''Sizi, sizi bîna'' :''Inbôt dir sancte Maria'' :''Hurolob ni habe dû'' :''Zi holce ni flûc dû'' :''Noh dû mir nindrinnês'' :''Noh dû mir nintuuinnêst'' :''Sizi vilu stillo'' :''Uuirki godes uuillon''

Translation

:Christ, the bee swarm is out here! :Now fly, you my animal, come. :In the Lord's peace, in God's protection, :come home in good health. :Sit, sit bee. :The command to you from the Holy Mary. :You have no vacation; :Don't fly into the woods; :Neither should you slip away from me. :Nor escape from me. :Sit completely still. :Do God's will.

Notes

External links

Pal. lat. 220 (Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)
– digital facsimile (Bibliotheca Laureshamensis - digital) * Meinolf Schumacher
''Majas Ahnfrauen? Über Bienen in der mittelalterlichen Literatur''

References

{{Authority control Beekeeping Germanic mythology Sources on Germanic paganism Christian prayer Incantation Manuscripts of the Vatican Library