firefly fascinations

So, I have been reading about fireflies. There are many things about them that I did not know. Things like the Indiana State Government was seriously considering making the firefly the official State Insect, but the Legislature never got around to voting on the issue (the firefly is the official State Insect of Pennsylvania, however). Like the light production of fireflies (technically called bioluminescence, which is such a great word) is much more efficient than the human lightbulb. Whereas 90% of firefly energy used to create light is converted into visible light; an incandescent electric bulb can convert only 10 percent of total energy used into visible light, and the remainder is emitted as heat. Like the Ifugaos of the Ifugao Province in the Philippines believe that the firefly can either be a harbinger of death or mean that there is a wild pig in a nearby field. Or in Japan, the firefly was once believed to be the souls of dead kamikaze pilots. Also in Japan, the firefly is under threat of extinction because of industrial pollution, urbanization as well as poaching. Apparently, firefly "rustlers" have been trapping fireflies and selling them to hotels and restaurants during summer firefly festivals. According to Japan Times, "Warning signs denouncing insect thieves have been erected and teams of volunteers have been mounting nightly patrols to ward them away from Fussa's Firefly Park, where tens of thousands of people converge every summer for the firefly festival."

In light of firefly regeneration, I found the following passage from the book "Encountering the Dharma" by Richard Hughes Seager very comforting:

"Buddhist elements in Soka education are also evident in small ways - in the emphasis placed on opposing militarism and creating peace; in a schoolwide campaign against bullying; in the way harmony and helpfulness pervade the ideals of the school. More striking is the effort by students to reestablish the firefly population in the region, which had been devastated by agribusiness and industrial pollution. "They go into fields to collect fireflies, care for them in our culture house, then hatch eggs and feed the babies," Matsuda says, clearly pleased by the success of this program. "They hatch one hundred thousand each year because the survival rate is only two percent." Such activities reflect both the Buddhist value of interdependence and the hands-on pedagogy of Makiguchi, he tells me. "Students learn how precious life is, see how much effort it takes to have even a single firefly in the beautiful, natural environment. They understand how a single life depends on the ecosystem." He laughs warmly as he recalls broaching the subject with Ikeda. "He thought I should do it and appointed me chair of the Fireflies Committee!""

In Mayan mythology, the firefly was known as the "queen of stars," since the firefly was thought to carry light from the stars.

I sit on the porch tonight, drinking my organic wine from Argentina, watching these amazing creatures fly low to the ground, emitting magical green lights, heavy under the weight they carry of so many souls and so many stars.