Welcome to our CHAOS! We do LOUD REALLY WELL (except Dad!) & make CRAZY LOOK GOOD!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Cicada's and "Cigales"!

Briggs has a new hobby....collecting Cicada's!!!  A cicada (pronounced /sɪˈkeɪdə) is a bug that I became familiar with on my mission in the South of France. And they have them here too! :) I know...who knew I'd be so excited about a BUG!  They are harmless to us...they don't bite but are really big and make a loud humming noise that stops abruptly when you get close to them.  It's a little creepy if you don't know what they are and that they don't hurt!  
 
Here's the wikipedia definition that I couldn't say better myself!
 
"In France, cicadas symbolize Summer time, happiness and Provence. During the Summer months, they sing from dawn to dusk in the Pine forests of Provence.
They have the reputation of bringing luck, so many homes in Provence have a ceramic one near the entrance door and inside the house."
 
I remember sleeping with our windows open and they literally "sing" you to sleep.  It took me a few nights to get used to them but then I LOVED them!  I was pleasantly surprised to find them here when we moved to Oklahoma and it's even more fun that Briggs has taken an interest in them. He goes out searching for them under our tree in the front yard. They shed their skeleton (or whatever that's called) and so we often find those, but he was especially excited to find one where we could see the whole body before it shed it's skeleton.
 
These pictures of Briggs are so cute and now you know what a Cicada or in french, a Cigales, is!

3 comments:

Laura said...

I saw one of the green ones in our driveway yesterday. I'm glad you like them, but I think they're gross!

Amy Lee said...

Those are some creapy looking bugs. As much time as I spent in La Provence, I did not know that about those bugs. Thanks for the info.

Celeste said...

Oh I never knew Cigales were Cicadas!! Cool pictures - but these bugs still are too big for me in real life - I prefer the pictures!