it seems like there are hardly any fireflies this year, compared to previous years. i probably shouldn't worry about this, since they have endured for however many milennia with no problem. perhaps the local deficit of fireflies is related to the local surfeit of toads (i noticed four (or maybe five) toads (the ittybitty cute kind) inside of five minutes within a few feet of garden path last night). Perhaps both deficit and surfeit are my imagination.
tonight is Tanabata in Japan. there's some story about lovers who were cursed by the gods, transformed into stars and forced to live on opposite sides of the milky way, but one night a year (that would be tonight) they get to cross the river and be together. People tie wishes to trees or something. Sheesh, it's really been a long time since I lived there, hasn't it? It's all a blur. I do remember Ritsuko's dad helping to carry the shrine around the neighborhood in, what, 1993...
Well, here you can learn more than you ever wanted to know about Tanabata.
Today is also my little cousin Mia's second birthday. Happy birthday Mia!
We can tie this (fireflies & Japan) all together by noting that there is a passage in the Tale of Genji* in which the naughty Genji releases a bunch of fireflies so that his brother can catch a glimpse of the beautiful Tamakazura.... If you can manage to ignore the gender-power-trip context, I always thought that was a charming image... a pale face in the darkness, ever-so-briefly illuminated by firefly-light...
When I googled for images I found that someone's rather ratty-looking tiger-stripe cat is named Tamakazura. Not a fitting tribute at all.
* you know, that turn-of-the-last-milennium Japanese novel about which I wrote my (ahem) 138-page senior thesis (double-spaced, though, unlike M's, as we all know....)
4 comments:
upon leaving katy's house the other day, she warned me to be careful of the fireflies. when i asked her why, she said that she didn't want me to be startled. i thought that was quite funny. i guess if you were from somewhere without fireflies, it might be a shock.
I am from somewhere without fireflies, and they never startle me, well not in a bad way. More in the way that I would be startled if I died and discovered that there was a heaven after all.
Where is a place where there are there no fireflies?
Dry places. We never had mosquitos either.
I want to add that my comment about heaven wasn't flippant. The first sight of fireflies always arouses in me a sort of delighted enchantment with the universe. I never get used to them or find them ordinary. They're perfect. Along with lotuses, peach-leaved bellflowers (see photo on Looopy's blog), great blue herons and the occasional sunset.
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