World Bee Day: Why We Celebrate Bees Every May 20
World Bee Day is celebrated every May 20 to recognize the importance of bees, pollinators, and beekeeping. Discover how it started and simple ways you can participate.
Every year on May 20, people around the world celebrate World Bee Day.
It's a day dedicated to recognizing bees and other pollinators, the role they play in ecosystems and agriculture, and the people who dedicate their lives to beekeeping.
But why May 20?
The answer takes us to Slovenia — a small European country with an extraordinary beekeeping tradition — and a pioneering beekeeper named Anton Janša.
What Is World Bee Day?
World Bee Day is an international observance recognized by the United Nations and celebrated annually on May 20.
The day brings attention to bees, other pollinators, biodiversity, agriculture, and the challenges facing pollinator populations around the world.
It's also an opportunity to recognize something that sometimes gets overlooked in conversations about bees:
beekeeping is a human craft as well as an ecological relationship.
For generations, beekeepers have learned how to work alongside honey bee colonies, care for them, manage their health, and harvest the remarkable products they produce.
World Bee Day gives us a reason to celebrate both.
When Is World Bee Day?
World Bee Day is May 20 every year.
Unlike holidays that move around the calendar, the date remains the same.
May 20 wasn't chosen randomly.
It's connected to the birthday of one of Europe's pioneering beekeepers.
Who Was Anton Janša?
Anton Janša was born in what is now Slovenia on May 20, 1734.
He grew up in a family with a strong beekeeping tradition and eventually became an influential figure in the development of modern apiculture.
Janša became the first imperial teacher of beekeeping at the Habsburg court in Vienna under Empress Maria Theresa.
He taught and wrote about beekeeping methods at a time when scientific understanding of honey bee colonies was still developing.
His influence on European beekeeping is the reason his birthday was eventually chosen for World Bee Day.
Which Country Started World Bee Day?
Slovenia proposed World Bee Day.
That makes perfect sense when you understand Slovenia's relationship with beekeeping.
Beekeeping occupies a special place in Slovenian culture and agricultural heritage. The country is closely associated with the Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica), a subspecies of the western honey bee known among beekeepers for characteristics including its relatively gentle temperament.
Slovenia proposed establishing an international day dedicated to bees, and the initiative eventually reached the United Nations.
In December 2017, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution declaring May 20 World Bee Day.
The first World Bee Day was celebrated in 2018.
Why Are Bees Important?
Bees are part of an enormous network of animals responsible for moving pollen between flowers.
That process allows many flowering plants to reproduce and contributes to the production of numerous agricultural crops.
But "bees" aren't one single thing.
There are thousands of bee species around the world, ranging from solitary native bees to social species such as bumble bees and honey bees.
Each interacts with plants and ecosystems differently.
Honey bees also have a unique relationship with humans through agriculture and beekeeping.
They produce honey, beeswax, propolis, and other hive products while beekeepers care for and manage their colonies.
World Bee Day Is Also About Beekeepers
At Bee Mission, there's another part of World Bee Day we think deserves more attention:
the beekeeper.
Keeping bees requires knowledge, equipment, land access, time, physical labor, and ongoing investment.
Beekeepers must manage threats such as Varroa mites, monitor colony health, respond to changing weather and forage conditions, maintain equipment, and make countless management decisions throughout the year.
And like farmers and other agricultural producers, beekeepers need a sustainable economic model.
If we value beekeeping, we should also value the people doing it.
7 Ways to Celebrate World Bee Day
You don't need to own a hive to participate.
Here are a few ways anyone can celebrate World Bee Day:
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Buy honey directly from a beekeeper. Learn who produced your honey and where it came from.
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Plant flowers for pollinators. Choose diverse flowering plants appropriate for your region.
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Let something bloom. Allow flowering herbs or parts of your yard to provide additional forage.
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Reduce unnecessary pesticide use. Be thoughtful about what you apply around flowering plants and pollinator habitat.
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Learn about native bees. Honey bees are only one part of the incredible diversity of bees.
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Visit a beekeeper or apiary. Local beekeeping associations can be a great place to learn more.
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Share the story. Use World Bee Day as an opportunity to teach someone else something interesting about bees or beekeeping.
Small actions become more meaningful when millions of people take them together.
Celebrate Bees by Supporting Beekeepers
World Bee Day began with a country that deeply values beekeeping.
We think there's an important lesson in that.
Protecting habitat and understanding pollinators matters. But if we want beekeeping itself to thrive, we also need to make the craft economically sustainable for the people doing the work.
That's what Bee Mission is working to build.
We create demand for beekeeper-produced honey so more value can flow back toward independent beekeepers and their operations.
This May 20, celebrate the bees.
Learn something new. Plant something. Open a jar of real honey.
And thank the beekeeper who made it possible.
Celebrate bees. Support beekeepers. Grow the mission.