Brief History: No, sadly this isn’t about the Greta Gerwig film (which is fantastic, by the way). It’s about a Ladybug who is told to hurry home because her children died in a home fire, save for one named Ann. It’s hard to say just how old this one is, but it was first published in the 1700s and earlier version were just about a link between bugs and fairies. Sometimes it’s associated with a game of saying the rhyme when I ladybug lands on a child then the kid makes a wish when the insect flies away. Ladybugs are good luck in many cultures as symbols of the Virgin Mary, Norse goddess Freya, Greek god Zeus, and Egyptian sacred scarabs.
Analysis: The house burning aspect of the most popular versions are theorized to be about the persecution of witches or Catholics in Europe. There’s also the idea of it being about the superstitions that create ties between insects and disease or insects and harvest. For it being so dark initially, Ladybird Ladybird actually doesn’t have a super dark analysis to it. Oh wait. Unless you count all of those Catholics and witches burned at stakes.
Blame it on the Victorians: Other than an outbreak of ladybugs ruins the world’s citrus crop in the 1800s, I got nothing here except the usual morbidity in children’s lit the Victorians loved. But the citrus thing happened in California and Florida so can I actually write about it in this section? Too late, already did.
Final Thoughts: I want to know more about Ann, the surviving ladybug child. How much will bug therapy cost after such trauma? Why isn’t there a verse about that?
