— Chinese firefly culture
On summer nights, the most pleasant thing is the sound of insects, I am afraid it is the fireflies. These little bugs flying in the sky are romantic and beautiful, and even become wedding celebrations. These strange little creatures hung a lamp on their tails and gave off a soft glow. In ancient Greece, fireflies were also known as "shining tails", and scientists affectionately referred to them as "Blue Pluris". Although humans often saw fireworks in ancient times, little was known about this insect. Like most common insects, fireflies were given the poet's ideas.
Glowing worms – a masterpiece of nature
Fireflies are Coleoptera insects, which belong to a type of beetle, but have the "glowing" stunt that beetles and all insects do not have, and fireflies have wings to protect their wings and also have walking feet, which do not look much different from other beetles. The fireflies flying in the sky are actually males, and female fireflies do not experience the joy of flight, they do not have the ability to fly.
Although fireflies look so romantic and beautiful, they are a cruel carnivore, and many people have heard the story of fireflies eating snails, but they don't know the process in between.
Fireflies have a special weapon, which can only be seen clearly under the microscope, it is a hook with small spines, containing some chemicals, when the fireflies lock on to the target and suddenly stab the snail, repeated several times the snail will lose consciousness, the fireflies' weapons have chemicals, the snails will soon become liquid, and the fireflies can drink the snail's porridge after anesthetizing them.
Rotten fireflies – a nonsense
In ancient times, fireworks were a poignant flame, and due to the influence of the saying that "rotten grass is fireflies", the ancients mistakenly thought that fireflies were changed from rotten grass, so many authors also talked about this in their poems.
For example, Chen Zhang's "Rotten Grass for Fireflies" in the Song Dynasty describes in detail the beautiful transformation process of fireflies, as well as the life journey of fireflies from birth to death. How rotten grass gradually changed from inanimate to living fireflies.
Because the author's concept was wrong at the beginning, it was decided that his description was naturally groundless and groundless nonsense, but he could not but admire the author's rich imagination, he could write about the phenomena that did not exist, as if he had seen it with his own eyes, and wrote out the whole process from scratch, step by step, in any case, it required a high degree of artistic talent.
In fact, nonsense such as "rotten grass fireflies" and "greed to locusts" have to a large extent been consolidated by relying on the literary methods of this image.
Ghostly "fireworks" - light up Chinese literature
There are many firefly poems written in Chinese history, but most of the poems are focused on the "surface", directly describing the beautiful firelight of fireflies.
The Jin Dynasty poet Zhang Hua wrote the famous sentence "The spark is the sunset, and the fire is suddenly in the autumn", writing from an objective point of view With the arrival of autumn, in the cool night sky, the fireworks shine.
Liang JianwenDi's "Wing Ying" a few sentences "The well is suspicious of the fire, and the curtain is like a night pearl" to praise the fireworks. It is said that fireworks are like shooting stars in the night sky, emitting a strange glow that illuminates the well platform and curtains. In ancient times, humans have long observed the characteristics of fireflies, although the fireflies have light, but people do not feel hot when they touch it, and they will not catch fire when they gather in grass. The fires dimmed in the light, but were brighter in the rain.
Liang Xiaohe's "Firefly Fu" is a "peak" in the description of fireflies literary works, and he repeatedly describes the flying period of fireflies in the night sky in a changeable way, which is referred to as "the fire of dry sand" and "the star stream of the Qing Han Dynasty", and the bright figure of the fireflies appears in the black night, and the image is so vivid and vivid. The morning light slowly appeared, and the fireworks gradually disappeared.
Witnessing the whole process of the fireworks from the beginning of the evening until they are extinguished before dawn, the poet felt something. At this time, the poems also mostly described the phenomenon of fireflies glowing, and did not add their thoughts to fireflies.
During this period, although fireflies did not like some insects to pin their minds on the poet's thoughts and achieve the purpose of relying on things and words, the condensed language, clever metaphors, and fresh pictures, these poems will give people a sense of beauty. Looking at the quiet and elegant scenery that makes people depict, in the scene, we can reflect a special state of mind of the author.
Faint fluorescent light - the infinite sorrow of the literati
The firefly is a humble insect that grows under the dead leaves of a damp and hot bush, with neither a beautiful appearance nor a pleasant chirp, so it is generally difficult to find its figure. Only at night, when people see shining fireworks swaying in the night sky, can they remember its existence and be attracted by it. Therefore, in ancient poetry, fireflies were often given new meanings by people.
The Tang Dynasty poet Yu Shinan's "Wing Ying" wrote that "fear and fear no one knows, alone and secretly bright." The poet imagines the firefly as a weak individual, whether it is the little light it emits or its weak wings, it is simply insignificant.
However, it does not think itself small, it does not show weakness at all, it does not feel lonely, or it emits that faint light in the dark night to show its existence. In this dark era, the poet is also nostalgic, often feel the smile of his own strength, but seeing the faint light of the fireflies, can compete with the moonlight, the author was deeply moved, this touch made the fireflies become the goal of "struggle", giving the author unlimited confidence.
In the poet's pen, the fireflies do not dare to go down to the moonlight, it does not have the courage to compete with the bright moonlight, and can only fly under the dim light and wet dew. Although it knows that its strength is weak, it is so persistent, tirelessly illuminating the path in the darkness for people.
It is a dedication worthy of admiration, for every firefly they are weak individuals, but they do not need sympathy and pity, in the face of darkness, they have never yielded.
The poet's different life experiences determine that the feelings he expresses in his poems are different.
Du Fu's "Firefly" describes the bravery of fireflies "fortunately because of the rotten grass, dare to fly near the sun", although Du Fu does not avoid the concept of rotten grass as fireflies, but not just to promote idealistic thoughts, but to compare small fireflies to convey his personal feelings about life.
The glimmer of the fireworks shines on the body of the detainee, and the stars are dotted; On stormy nights, it either flew in the courtyard or walked through the woods, and the small figure still dragged a faint point of light behind it; When the cold wind is coming and the crickets enter the house, where is the destination of the fireflies? In connection with Du Qian's life, we know that he is writing about himself with fireworks, writing about his own encounters, and writing about his life floating everywhere.
The little fireflies were pinned on thousands of sorrows by these literati inkers, a lonely little lamp, illuminating the future of the ancient literati inkers, when they saw the fireworks, they determined the direction of progress, these literati will not be defeated because of setbacks, even the fluorescence of the dry grass also dares to compete with the bright moon in the sky!
Fireworks Weddings – Romantic or Heartless
I have no intention of recalling that during middle school, many female classmates hoped that their future boyfriends could give them a "firefly romance", which also gave birth to a firefly wedding. Not only can people use fireflies at weddings, even if they are generally in love to find romance, there are also online stores that can create a romantic atmosphere by selling fireflies.
After placing an order, these stores will use the courier method to mail live fireflies to the buyer, so that every man can give his girlfriend a "Midsummer Night's Dream". Many people hope to find romance, in fact, this is a ruthless approach, because most fireflies will die in the mailing process, even if they do not die, to a romantic "release", these southern fireflies come to an unsuitable environment can not survive at all.
Whether the fireflies are adults or larvae, they must eat some mollusks or small snails, but the release location is obviously not so ideal, perhaps the couples have found romance, the relationship has become more stable, but this ending is not romantic for the fireflies, and they will eventually die.
Fireflies can not be artificially farmed, most of the fireflies used for weddings are caught by stores, and the crisis of the firefly population is caused by large-scale capture, on the e-commerce platform, only a hundred yuan can buy hundreds of adult insects, in order to create a rare romance for the girlfriend, many people even buy hundreds of them at a time.
For farmers, catching fireflies sells for money, and couples create romance, which is a mutually beneficial thing, but one day these insect farmers will find that there will be fewer and fewer "small lights" shining in the local night sky, and the once bright nights will become darker.
From birth to death, fireflies always shine. Even the eggs have light, and their larvae glow. Under the ground, if you are careful you can even find the light of the firefly larvae. This bright light is the most beautiful side of the fireflies, and this side also brings disaster to them.
Flying fireflies, is this romantic or merciless? Coincidentally, in addition to fireflies, some wedding companies also provide butterfly release services, most of the butterflies transported from other places are due to the inability to adapt to the environment and die, human weddings have become insect funerals, and human romance has become the pain of insects.
Although the fireflies are small, they have become a witness to history. It had witnessed the life of the Court of the Han Dynasty, flew around the palace people, accompanied them through the long night, and shared their sorrows and joys. The shimmer of the fluorescent fire shines on the "broken rubble" and "barren hazel rotting grass", have you ever imagined what a prosperous place this place was! It had witnessed the infinite melancholy of the literati and had become a beacon to point the way for the literati.
It once witnessed its own kind being caught in a bottle by a cruel human for the so-called "Romantic Couple Night", and for this little worm, it experienced too much...
The light of the fireworks is flickering slightly, don't let this light go out because of your romance alone.