I used to love lady bugs when I was a kid. I loved their bright red bodies with the brilliant black spots. I drew them on the edges of all my papers, lady bugs with long curly antennae, even though I knew that wasn't correct. Call it poetic licence.
My grandfather told me lots of stories about lady bugs when we'd do our adventures through the woods or long rides in the car. He was the Clerk-Treasurer of the Municipality of Alberton and always took the scenic route to the office with me in tow. His tales were varied and I thought a bit creative.
Lady bugs were connected in some way to the goddess of love and beauty. I thought this was a good reason to admire them because being loved and beautiful seemed like a good thing. Lady bugs meant a good harvest and we were farmers so that was another good reason to form a fan club.
My grandfather said the Germans believed that counting the spots on the lady bug could predict something about harvest but I can't remember the details of that one and it seemed a bit of a stretch. The French said lady bugs signalled good weather while the Austrians came right out and asked the lady bugs for good weather. If you want something you may as well ask for it. The Swedes were more romantically inclined and perhaps more determined to get married so a lady bug walking on a girl's hand meant a marriage was imminent and conversely, if the lady bug flies away then the girl should follow the direction because that is where the love is coming from. Counting spots also indicated the number of children. All my lady bugs had two lovely spots so that foils the notion right there. A lady bug landing on you is good luck but if you brush it off, bad luck will prevail. There were others but my memory can't quite dig them up.
They call them ladybirds in the U.K. and other places and sometimes lady cow. The image of that I find quite worrisome. Probably no need to explain. The Asian lady beetle (not my indigenous lady bug) was introduced in the States successfully in the 1980s for some scientific reason that I have come to sincerely doubt. It is called the Hallowe'en lady beetle because it invades our homes this time of year to prepare for hibernation. No kidding!
Asian Lady Beetle be warned! There will be no hibernating in my house, you stinky orange imposter! I shall hunt you down and stamp you out.
These beetles have out-competed my dear lady bug in most areas and even devour my lady bug when food choices are limited. The best solution to rid your house of these pesky fakes is to vacuum. But with an addendum. Don't frighten them! Why? Because they give off a staining ink and a horrendous odour. Don't frighten them? What am I supposed to do? Sneak up on them? Call ahead?
I'm thinking of donning my Ghost Buster suit for Hallowe'en complete with vacuum and hire myself out to rid homes in our area of these menacing annoyances. I've just picked another out of my hair and it seems he was startled by my squeezing him firmly between my finger and thumb. No catch and release for these varmints.
Who you gonna call?
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the little buggers
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