Week 10: “Awakening Insects”

March 04 to March 10 is the tenth week of 2024.  This week, we enter the Solar Term of Awakening of Insects (Mar 05 – Mar 19), complete the micro-seasons of “Grass Sprouts, Trees Bud” (Mar 01 – Mar 05), and enter the season of “Hibernating Insects Surface” (Mar 06 – Mar 10).

Dickinson, Basho, Buson, Issa, Reichhold, and Kerouac wrote the poems selected for this week.  

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The 24 Solar Terms 

The 24 solar terms were created by farmers in ancient China  (206 BCE and 24 CE) to help guide their agricultural activities. Each solar term is 15 days long and is based on the climate around the city Xi’an, which was the capital of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE). ⁽¹⁾

Awakening of Insects

Awakening of Insects is the third Solar Term of the year and the third Solar Term of Spring. Jingzhe (惊蛰) is the Chinese name for this season. Jingzhe (惊蛰) translates to “the weather is warming up with the first thundering in spring, awakening the insects hiding under the earth in hibernation.”⁽²⁾

Spring Plowing

Awakening of Insects is understood to be the beginning of the busy season for agricultural work.  The warming temperatures make it an ideal time to get into the fields.  There is an old Chinese proverb that says,  “Once the Awakening of Insects comes, spring plowing never rests”.⁽²⁾  This proverb highlights the importance of this season for farm workers. 

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The 72 Seasons

The 72-season calendar was established in 1685 by Japanese astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai.  Each season lasts for about 5 days and offers “a poetic journey through the Japanese year in which the land awakens and blooms with life and activity before returning to slumber.”⁽⁴⁾

This week we complete the micro-seasons of “Grass Sprouts, Trees Bud” (Mar 01 – Mar 05) and enter the season of “Hibernating Insects Surface” (Mar 06 – Mar 10).

Spring Insects In Vermont

The average temperature in March in Vermont is 42°F, with the potential low temperatures of 19°F.  This means that there are not a lot of insects out at this time of year. 

However, because of the work done by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, we know a few species that are around at this time of year.

Winter Stonefly 

Winter Stoneflies are part of the Capniidae family of insects in the order Plecoptera. Nathaniel Sharp, who wrote a short article in the Vermont Center for Ecostudies’ March 2020 Field Guide, says that Winter Stoneflies are “wingless, but most have long bodies, with darkly veined wings that lay folded across their back. As nymphs, winter stoneflies spend their lives huddled in the layer of silt and gravel beneath the stream bottom, only moving towards the surface of this layer when they are preparing to emerge as adults. Emergence occurs throughout the winter and into early spring, and adults are often seen wandering on top of the snow.”⁽⁵⁾

Winter Fireflies 

Winter Fireflies (Ellychnia corrusca)  are a species of lantern-less fireflies. They overwinter in the bark of trees and become active in early spring. Spencer Hardy writes in the Vermont Center for Ecostudies’ March 2020 Field Guide that these fireflies can sometimes be found in the bottom of sap buckets during sugaring season.  

Mining Bees

Mining Bees (Genus Andrena) are “dull-colored hairy bees, ranging in size from a few millimeters to the size of a small bumble bee.”  They are the most diverse species in Vermont with about 70 recorded species.  These bees have a fondness for tree sap and willow buds, both of which arrive in spring. 

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Astronomical Season

March 10, the last day of week nine of 2024, is 77 days past the winter solstice and only 9 days away from the spring equinox (March 19, 2024).  

March’s New Moon

The new moon in March will occur on March 10, 2024.  A new moon occurs when the moon is directly between the Earth and the sun.  This puts the moon’s shadow side toward the earth making it difficult to see.

If we look toward the field of astrology, we find out that March’s new moon coincides with the astrological sign of Pisces (February 19 – March 20).  Jill Wintersteen, a columnist for Yoga Journal, writes the following about this time of year. 

“This new Moon in Pisces can help you understand the vastness of your energy and your potential. It’s a time to feel your interconnectedness and know that everything you desire is already yours. You do not need to control every detail. Instead, hold the vision of what you want today. Feel it, be it, and believe that it is already real. Then allow it to happen by following the flow of your life.”⁽⁸⁾

To learn more about March’s New Moon, read Wintersteen’s full article. 

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“A Light Exist in Spring” by Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson’s (1830–1886) poetry was greatly inspired by science, nature, and the passing of the seasons.  She wrote about 500 poems about the seasons with a majority of them being focused on the spring and summer.  Here is one of her spring poems that fits well with this week.

“A Light Exist in Spring” 

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay —

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.

(This poem is in the public domain)

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Haiku and Kigo

A haiku is a short seasonal poem.

The kigo, or season word, is one of the key parts of the haiku.

If you have ever wondered why we use kigo in haiku, the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society provides the following explanation.

“A kigo is a poetic device used in haiku to denote a season; it’s a powerful word or phrase that can conjure up many allusions, historical references, spiritual meanings, and/or cultural traditions. Its use in haiku, a poem of few words, is especially effective because of this power to expand its meaning beyond the literal and to create a larger aura of seasonal mood, historical/ literary context, and/or cultural implications.”⁽⁹⁾

To dive deeper into the history and use of the kigo, visit The Haiku Foundation’s “New To Haiku” page.

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This Week’s Kigo

In The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto, “Butterflies” and “Silkworms” are listed as potential insect kigo for this week.  

 In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku, “Bees”, “Beetles”, “Fireflies” and “Moths” are some other potential kigo.

 Now with all this in mind, let’s read some haiku about insects in spring

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Basho

moths in a straw raincoat
come listen to their voice 
in a thatched hut 
(translated by Jane Reichhold) 

learn from the journey
of a sorrowing wayfarer: 
flies of Kiso. 
(translated by David Landis Barnhill)

Issa

butterfly at the gate--
the child crawls, it flies
crawls, it flies...
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

my hut's lamp--
even moths don't come
to the flame
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Buson

Releasing fireflies
inside the mosquito net —
ah, fun!
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Reichhold

cloudy dawn
on my pillow
moth wing dust

still stinging
yesterday's bee
dead

Kerouac

In my medicine cabinet
  the winter fly
Has died of old age

Reading my notes –
   The fly stepping from
The page to the finger

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Haiku invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu referencing spring insects.

Share your haiku in the comments below, or post on your page and link back. I can’t wait to read what you write! 

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Let’s Spread the Joy of Haiku!

Buy a haiku book for the Woodbury Community Library (Woodbury, VT) and help them spread the joy of haiku! Follow this link to see the wish list and how you can help.

Thank you for your support!

You can also support our work by donating at “Buy Me a Coffee” or shopping at our bookstore.

About the Haiku

Basho’s haiku were retrieved from “Matsuo Bashō’s haiku poems in romanized Japanese with English translations” Editor: Gábor Terebess.  Issa’s haiku were retrieved from David G. Lanoue’s Haiku Guy. Buson’s haiku was retrieved from Foxfire: the Selected Poems of Yosa Buson, a Translation by Allan Persinger. Jane Reichhold’s haiku were retrieved from the Dictionary of Haiku. Kerouac’s haiku was retrieved from Kerouac’s  Book of Haikus.

1. “The 24 Solar Terms”; China Educational Tours
2. “6 Solar Terms of Spring”; China Educational Tours
3. 72 Seasons App
4. “Japan’s 72 Microseasons”; Nippon.com
5. “Feild Guide to March 2020”; Vermont Center for EcoStudies
6. “Winter Firefly (Ellychnia corrusca)”: iNaturalist.org
7. “Mining Bees (Genus Andrena)”; Vermont Center for EcoStudies
8. Wintersteen, Jill. “What the New Moon in Pisces Means for You”; Yoga Journal
9. Kelsey, Julie Bloss. “New to Haiku: What is a Kigo”. The Haiku Foundation.