Do butterflies hold the answer to life's mysteries?
LONDON. KAZINFORM - Throughout history, butterflies have been seen as symbols of many things - not only transformation and purity, but also death and sin. Today though, scientists study them to see what they can tell us about our changing planet, writes Mary Colwell.
Butterflies seem to distil out of warm summer air. Their fleeting, fragile appearance has inspired poets, authors and musicians through time. They were "flowers that fly and all but sing" to the American poet Robert Frost, but took on a more tragic hue for Victor Hugo. In his poem, The Genesis of Butterflies, they "Are but torn love-letters, that through the skies / Flutter, and float, and change to butterflies." Bitter or sweet, ethereal or sinister, the delicate wings of butterflies have borne the burden of our hopes and fears for centuries. In his new book, Rainbow Dust: Three Centuries of Delight in British Butterflies, Peter Marren traces the many beliefs that have been held about these creatures. He believes their journey from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to winged beauty has evoked stories that resonate with the mysteries of the soul, life and death. For some, these transitions are symbols of hope, a sign that the human soul can break from earthly ties, darkness and confinement to fly into the light. The ancient Greeks were transfixed by this notion, identifying the butterfly with the essence of our being - and Psyche, the goddess of the soul, is often depicted with butterfly wings. For the ancient Greeks, "The butterfly was telling us about our own lives," says Peter Marren. Through time, some butterflies took on different meanings. The bright fire-colours of the red admiral, with its velvet black wings slashed with crimson, inspired images of an inferno.
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