The firefly's flame
Is something for which science has no name
I can think of nothing eerier
Than flying around with an unidentified glow on a person's posteerier.
- from The Firefly by Ogden Nash
I saw the first fireflies of summer the other evening, their bodies lit from within by the eerie-sounding process of "bioluminescence." I remember catching "lightning bugs" as a child, making a comfy home for them in a mayonnaise jar so that I could use them to read at night under the covers. (Of course, it was never enough light to read by, but that's beside the point). My father would poke holes in the jar's lid for air (do lightning bugs breathe?) and I'd give them a nice cushy layer of grass so they'd feel right at home. They had everything they needed, I thought, yet I was devastated to wake the next morning and find them all dead. I learned a valuable lesson about taking creatures out of their natural habitat, trying to fit nature into something comfortable and harmless that I could keep caged up for my own pleasure. Nature doesn't work that way. Beauty needs to be free in its own space.
Fireflies have always fascinated me. They are the most innocuous and ethereal of bugs. The sight of a meadow at dusk lit by the fires of thousands of graceful flyers is one of those indelible memories of my childhood. Interestingly, the male firefly flashes while in flight, sending out a visual signal to attract a female. If she likes what she sees, she'll flash from a stationary perch in response, the two will get together and, well, you know the rest of the story. How does she know which male to respond to? It's like in everything to do with courtship: he who has the biggest, brightest light wins. If the female is not interested in a certain male, she'll keep her light to herself and the male will never even know she's there. Pretty good system, I'd say.
Unfortunately, the firefly population is dwindling. Read more in this 2008 article by Michael Casey: "Thailand's Firefly Populations Fading Out".
The strange light of fireflies has not only inspired me but also many poets, authors and artists throughout the ages. Just for s&g, I did a little research and found fascinating stories and illustrations about the lowly lightning bug. Here are some interesting myths about the firefly: The Mayans believed that fireflies carried light from the stars; the Japanese say fireflies are the souls of dead soldiers; in the Phillippines they are the graceful guardians of the star apple tree; in China the firefly is associated with poverty-stricken students who must study at night by their gentle light.
Photo by Jamie Medieros
This beautiful passage is from British fantasy writer Francis William Bain's The Indian Stories.
"And as he went, gradually the trees grew rarer, and at length he looked before him, and saw in a clear space a dark blue forest pool, studded with moon-lotuses, as if created to mock the expanse of heaven bespangled with its stars, a mirror formed by Wedasa [the Creator] to reproduce another world below. And all about it flitted fireflies, looking like swarms of bees that had returned with torches, unable to endure separation at night from the lotus flowers which they loved all day."
Fireflies At Ocha No-Mizu by Kobayashi Kiyochika(1847-1915) Courtesy First Art Gallery
Although I have not watched it yet, the 1988 animated film, The Grave of the Fireflies, based on a book by Akiyuki Nosaka, sounds very reminiscent of my own childhood experience with trying to capture and keep some of the insects for my own use. The storyline follows Seita and his younger sister Setsuko after they are left to fend for themselves when their mother passes away from severe burns inflicted by the American fire-bombing of their town during WWII. Their father is serving in the Japanese navy, but the children have not heard from him in a long time.
The film critic Roger Ebert wrote: "Grave of the Fireflies is a powerful dramatic film that happens to be animated, and I know what the critic Ernest Rister means when he compares it to Schindler's List and says, 'It is the most profoundly human animated film I've ever seen.' ...There are individual moments of great beauty. One involves a night when the children catch fireflies and use them to illuminate their cave. The next day, Seita finds his little sister carefully burying the dead insects--as she imagines her mother was buried...." Ebert concludes, "...it belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made." I look forward to seeing it. Learn more at these sites: Myth*ing Links: Fireflies, Museum of Science, Boston's Firefly Watch.