A Dragonfly by any other Name

Although current American pop culture tends to describe 

dragonflies as primarily symbolic of attributes 

like self-realization or positive change,

dragonflies in American folklore tell a much different story,

one unrelated to the cultural symbolism discussed in yesterday's blog.

And the differences start with the name.

The lexicon of each American regional dialect 

contains competing names for many words and terms,

and the name for dragonfly varies from region to region.

People who love words should become familiar

with the Dictionary of American Regional English,

a project started decades ago by the American Dialect Society

and whose last volume was only recently published.

The DARE project's objective is to preserve and document

American regionalisms--not slang terms, 

but the words and phrasings that help comprise American dialects 

and make them unique.

The project has a fascinating web site with tons of information,

including audio samples and sample lists of synonyms, 

including a listing of dragonfly terms by region.

http://www.dare.wisc.edu/

Terms for dragonflies are often rooted in American folklore

and generally can be divided into two main categories: 

those associating dragonflies with needles

and those associating dragonflies with snakes.

According to DARE, dragonflies are called sewing needles, darning needles,

or eye stitchers, primarily in northern regions of the US.

And why needles? 

According to the University of Kentucky Entomology

web site maintained by Blake Newton: 

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/insects/dragonflies/dragonflies.htm

dragonflies were believed to be 

capable of sewing up a person's lips or ears. 

This association with ears would also explain why

DARE lists "ear cutters" as a regional synonym for dragonflies.

All rather grisly prospects from a flying insect

that seems to delight so many of us nowadays.

But there is apparently a more nurturing

--if dubious--side to dragonflies.

The DARE site lists these other dragonfly synonyms:

 snake doctor, snake feeder, snake guarder,

snake heeder, and snake waiter.

On the University of Kentucky web site,

Newton provides a plausible folk explanation for 

the inclusion of "snake" in so many terms for dragonfly.

He includes a comment from Earlane Cox,

who explains that dragonflies were once thought  

to care for the needs of snakes,

even helping snakes raise their little baby snakes.

Snake appellations seem to be more common in the southern US,

where dragonflies and snakes are found in proximity

to swamps and marshes.

DARE says that in Hawaii,

dragonflies are called "globe skimmers."

I'll use that as a synonym for dragonflies from now on.

It evokes images of a benign creature 

taking gentle flight on a summer day.

That shouldn't give any of us nightmares.

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Dragonfly

When we were at Bells Mill Park recently,

we could barely walk two steps 

without encountering dozens of electric-blue dragonflies.

They seemed to alight on every blade of meadow grass they could find.

Unphased by the heat, 

 they demonstrated an amazing ability to hover in the air,  

to fly forward and back, and up and down. 

According to Sarah Zielinski's blog "Surprising Science"
in Smithsonian Magazine online,

the dragonfly has been doing just that 

for much of its incredible 300-million-year history.

Imagine how exciting it would be to find an ancient fossil

imprinted with the outline of a dragonfly.

A photo is the next best thing.
Scroll down on this next link to see a dragonfly fossil
that is over 150 million years old, found in Bavaria Germany :

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/uniramia/odonatoida.html

Here around our house, dragonflies are plentiful too.
They particularly favor a shepherd's hook we have for hanging plants 

and an iron US Calvary picket I bought from an antiques dealer.

If I were superstitious, I might wonder why the dragonflies

seem to always be at hand this summer.

Some people would see their arrival as an other-worldly sign.

In American popular culture, 

the dragonfly has been described

as symbolizing an ever-widening range of qualities 

from death to strength and self-realization to power and purpose.

But much of what is said to be dragonfly symbolism appears to be apocryphal.

The reality is much richer.

I found this fascinating web site

 that documents dragonfly references in art and culture:

http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/personal/ron/CVNC/odonata/cultural_odonatology.html

The author is Ron Lyons, who identified himself as a 10-year volunteer

for the Chula Vista Nature Center in California..

It appears the web site may have been last updated in the 1990s,

but it is full of well-researched and well-documented information.

For example, one source cited by Lyons 

informs the question about dragonfly symbolism: 

Symbolism

"An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols 

by J. C. Cooper pg 56 1960 

(reissued from 1931 with a slightly different name)
- can share butterfly symbolism of immortality and regeneration 
- Native Americans - whirlwind, swiftness, activity 
- China - summer, instability, weakness 
- Japan - national emblem of the Dragonfly Island, 

also irresponsibility, unreliability"

The idea of regeneration is about the only symbol 

connected to current pop culture;

I doubt many would want to claim the idea that dragonflies 

also symbolize irresponsibility or weakness.

But China's idea that the dragonfly symbolizes "summer"  

sounds like something we could all agree with.

The Lyons site also confirms 

that dragonflies are important symbols 

in both the Zuni Indian and Japanese cultures.

For more details about dragonflies and their meaning in Japanese culture,

this web site is also very good:

http://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia29/en/animal/animal01.html

Plus there is a photo of a bright red dragonfly.

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After the Park

After we left Bells Mill Park, 

we drove by a sign directing visitors 

to a small "Afro-Union" cemetery and Civil War Memorial.

There is a lot of Civil War history in Virginia, 

and my husband and I have visited quite a few historical sites over the years, 

but none that memorialized 

the contribution of freed slaves to the Union cause.

So we decided to go. 

We traveled a long and winding street back to an area 

on the other side of the same creek 

we had seen from our hike in the Park.

It was the Bells Mill neighborhood, 

at one time an African-American settlement established in 1872. 

(source: Bells Mill Historical Research and Restoration Society) 

And we easily found the small cemetery 

although it was encroached upon by houses and industry.

A huge shade tree in the corner 

spread its branches over the graves in the narrow lot:

Some of the old Civil War soldiers' graves 

were marked with still-legible stones, but most were not.

It's probable that for some of them,

their families never knew where they were laid to rest.

But someone had tried to commemorate their war service

by marking their resting places with makeshift headstones and silk flowers:

According to the National Archives, 

180,000 freed African slaves joined the Union Army 

toward the end of the Civil War, 

after a 1792 law banning them from serving had been essentially repealed. 

The site also says that 16 black soldiers 

were awarded the Medal of Honor for valor.

Read more here:

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/

From that site there is a link to an article written 

by Archives volunteer Budge Weidman

that includes letters written by black Civil War soldiers.

Here are a few lines from a letter written by a soldier named Samuel Cabble:

Dear Wife i have enlisted in the army 

i am now in the state of Massachusetts 

but before this letter reaches you 

i will be in North Carlinia 

and though great is the present national dificulties 

yet i look forward to a brighter day 

When i shall have the opertunity of seeing you 

in the full enjoyment of fredom ...

According to Weidman, Cabble did survive 

and was able to settle with his wife in Denver, Colorado after the War.

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