Monday, June 1, 2009

Summer singers - Cicadas

You must have heard the Aesop's fable "The Cicada and the Ant", right? While the hard-working ants are hunting and storing their food at summertime, the cicada is busy singing her songs, only to to find herself hungry at wintertime!
Here see the photos of cicadas taken at Toucheng Farm - they have large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent well-veined wings and lives in a temperate to tropical climates. In the USA they are known as "dry flies" , due to the dry shells they leave behind. Cicadas are loud noisemakers - which likes heat, the hotter the days, the louder they sing at summer time!
The Chinese legend of "Journey to the West" tells us the story of a Priest of Tang, also called Golden Cicada, whom he symbolizes. One can attain enlightenment only, after illusions had been broken, but this requires many stages of transformation.just like a cicada which sheds its shell many times.
At Toucheng Farm you can hear the cicadas singing thus recalling those childhood memories and retell those stories to your children or grandchildren.

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