This Monday, Labor Day, will mark the unofficial close of summer 2021. One of my fondest childhood summer memories is being entranced by the annual low-key lightshow in June and July courtesy of fireflies. And of course, catching them in my Mom’s Ball Mason jars.
But sadly, with pollution and conversion of rural land to subdivisions, that delightful experience is becoming harder and harder to come by for kids today. So I thought it’d be fun to revisit those sweet childhood memories before Fall sets in, in a final farewell to Summer.
While there still are areas blessed with fireflies here, Japan is the Mecca for those who truly want to enjoy spectacular firefly shows.
First, a little background: Fireflies are a type beetle with more than 2,000 species. The males use their flashing light while flying to attract females who are usually resting in the grass. When she sees a flashing pattern she particularly fancies, she’ll flash back to signal she’s interested in mating.
While the adult firefly only lives about two months, typically in June and July (give or take a few weeks), that still gives them plenty of time to produce eggs that will hatch into larvae and then emerge from their pupae next summer to put on a new lightshow.
In Japan, fireflies are called Hotaru. While Japan has about 45 different species, only 14 of them have the flashing capability.
In the Heian era (794 – 1185) noblemen and women would take excursions into the countryside just to enjoy the firefly lightshows, as it was the epitome of summer enjoyment.
Fireflies in Japan are seen as symbols of both love and war, and celebrated in song and writings. In fact, in The Tale of Genji (which some view as the world’s first novel) the hero provides his brother a brief glimpse of a beautiful damsel by releasing a bag of fireflies in her boudoir. Yet others think that their ethereal lights are the altered remnants of the souls of soldiers killed in battle.
In a myriad of ways fireflies play a prominent role in Japanese culture – like in the song “Hotaru no Hikari” (Light of the Firefly). It’s one of the most popular songs in Japan, traditionally sung when parting ways or marking the end of the year. So it’s no surprise it’s sung to the tune of the Scottish song “Auld Lang Syne” (which doesn’t mention a single firefly).
It’s also worked its way into the language, such as “Keisetsu-jidadi” which literally means “the era of the firefly and snow”. It refers to one’s days as student, back when children would study by the light provided by fireflies or at the window in the winter with light reflected off the snow.
A very recent addition to their lexicon is “hotaru-zoku” (firefly tribe). There are many high-rise apartments in Japan, and men are typically forced to smoke outside on their balconies. So the glow from the cigarettes mimics the glow of the firefly, which can’t survive in urban spaces.
Today, Japanese families takes trips to dozens of rural locations that are designated as firefly reserves. These spots provide the three essentials for fireflies to live: [1] Clean, unpolluted water (that’s where the larvae live); [2] Grassy banks and trees along the waterways (where they can rest); and [3] Darkness (so they can see each other in order to select a mate).
Some of the best-known firefly photos were taken by Daniel Kordan, a Russian landscape photographers. An assignment in Japan happened to coincide with the peak time for firefly viewing – and he was hooked. “I felt like a kid looking for the first time in my life at a Christmas tree!”
Let’s enjoy some of his work.
One of the most unique and rare attributes of fireflies are males that actually synchronize their flashes. They’re found in a very limited number of sites: the Great Smoky Mountains, the mangrove forests in Southeast Asia that light up the whole tree, and the island of Okinawa.
Not surprisingly, the synchronous lightshow of the Photinus carolinusfirefly is so mesmerizing that it draws over 12,000 visitors every year to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Elkmont, TN.
For those that want to learn more on how the males synchronize their flashes, here are two links:
