Though cicadas are often referred to as locusts, they are unrelated. Eaten throughout the world, they are considered a delicacy in China (the females especially due to being 'meatier'). Cicada molts are also used in traditional Chinese medicine as described in the "Compendium of Materia Medica."
*SIDE NOTE*
I decided to check on the price of this book for research. In six volumes it costs over $900 on Amazon.com. I will definately be checking the library.
Several different symbolic meaning as follows:
-Cicadas represent nonchalance and indifference to cultures throughout the world, as they 'waste their time singing instead of preparing for winter.'
-The molting of their shell is sometimes used to represent the transformation of a person into a final stage of enlightenment.
-The Chinese saying "to shed off the golden cicada skin" is a poetic name for a tactic used to describe escaping danger, specifically using decoys (molts/shells) to fool enemies. It is one of the 36 Classic Chinese Stratagems.
Owls
In western culture, owls are a symbol for wisdom and can be associated with libraries. They have tremendous eye sight (particularly in low light) that symbolically represents their foresight. They are responsible for rodent control and are often the victims of secondary rat/mouse poison. Their feathers are often used in native art and rituals, but their possession is strictly regulated by the government.
In other parts of the world (particularly in ancient times) owls were associated with death and misfortune. The Kikuya people of Kenya view owls as the harbingers of death with the sight or sound emanating death. The Aztecs, Mayans, and other native of Mesoamerica used the owl to symbolize death and destruction. The Aztec god of death, Mictlantecuhtli, was depicted with owls. In Mayan texts, owls were the messengers from 'the place of fright.' Considered funerary birds in Rome, seeing and owl in daylight was a bad omen. The Egyptians hieroglyph for the sound "m" was depicted by an owl. They drew the owl with its legs broken to prevent it from coming alive.
Contrary to bad luck, some cultures worshiped owls. In India, a white owl was the companion of the goddess of wealth and prosperity. The ancient Greek goddess Athena (goddess of heroic endeavor) was also often accompanied by an owl.
Henry David Thoreau wrote about owls in "Walden."
"I rejoice that there are owls. Let them do the idiotic and maniacal hooting for men. It is a sound admirably suited to swamps and twilight woods which no day illustrates, suggesting a vast and underdeveloped nature which men have not recognized. They represent the stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all [men] have."
No comments:
Post a Comment