The ancient city of Teotihuacan was built around 200 BC, and butterflies were carved on the lintels or walls of temples or ordinary buildings. Some butterflies have jaguar's fierce claws, while others are considered as the embodiment of soldiers coming back from the dead. In ancient Central America, the colorful phoenix-tailed cuckoo (Aztec bird) was highly respected, often painted with butterfly wings, and was later called "cuckoo butterfly".
The combination of leopard and butterfly, or the combination of other birds and butterflies, can be found in both Sabotek civilization and Maya civilization, symbolizing war and death. To the Aztecs, Izpah Palot (meaning obsidian or butterfly with claws) was a goddess of battle with fierce night. Izpah Palot is a skinny woman in Aztec paintings, with a pair of leopard claws and butterfly wings with a knife at the top. She is often used to represent the dark side of the image of Mother Earth.
In the tradition of American Indians, butterflies are regarded as symbols of joy, change and transformation. There is a legend that the newlyweds tell their wishes to the butterflies in their hands, and the released butterflies will tell the elves and angels that they can realize their wishes and love each other forever. Young Hopi virgins will braid their hair like butterfly wings, indicating that they are still single and not engaged.
The ancient Greeks respected butterflies as much as the Romans, but for different reasons.
The Greek goddess Psyche was in charge of the soul. Ancient mosaic patterns usually depict her as a goddess with butterfly wings, and her husband eros has been accompanying her. In Greek, the butterfly is called "Psyche", which stands for Cupid in Greek mythology. "Psyche" also means "soul". The ancient Greeks believed that the soul would leave the body after death, and butterflies were born from caterpillars, just as the soul was buried in the body.
In the Roman imagination, when a person dies, the soul will fly away from his lips, just like a butterfly. This flying butterfly, named Psyche, is eros, the little god of love, and the wife of the little Roman Cupid.
The Celts believed that butterflies were the soul of human beings and set out to find their mothers.
So it is not difficult to understand why Europeans think that there is some symbolic connection between soul and butterfly.
In Japan, one butterfly symbolizes vanity, but two butterflies symbolize marriage and love. There is a Japanese proverb that if a butterfly flies into your room and stays on the bamboo curtain, it means that your favorite person will come to see you.
In the culture of China, there are many butterflies.
The ancients thought that butterflies symbolized love, while the traditional literature in China regarded butterflies dancing in pairs as a symbol of free love, and the story of "Liang Zhu become a butterfly" was circulated among the people. Butterflies are loyal to their lovers and are regarded as a symbol of good luck. Butterflies in love with flowers are usually used to symbolize sweet love and happy marriage. Liang Zhu became a butterfly, expressing the most beautiful and true love between life and death.
The Taoist view of ancient people in China believed that butterflies symbolized change and depravity. There was a Taoist legend: the philosopher Zhuangzi fell asleep by the river and dreamed that he had become a butterfly. When he woke up, he didn't know whether he was really awake or still dreaming. He couldn't help thinking, did Zhuang Zhou's dream become a butterfly, or did the butterfly wake up and become Zhuang Zhou?
They believe that death is not the end, but a transformation. The death of the body may be the liberation of the soul, just like a butterfly flying out of a pupa. So Zhuang Zhou used butterflies as an analogy. Regarding the thinking of life and death, butterfly is the most suitable image to express this meaning.
Butterflies also symbolize death and have dreams about beautiful souls. Butterflies can fly lightly, which accords with the characteristics of the soul in people's minds. Its growth and deformation process from larva to pupa to butterfly is the same as that of ancient Chinese.
In the story, Liang Zhu died of becoming a butterfly, and the tomb symbolizes the pupa of becoming a butterfly. Their love failed in the real world, but broke out there, completing the beautiful love in the spiritual world.
In Christian art, butterflies are often a symbol of the resurrection of human souls, and also a Christian symbol of the rebirth and rebirth of Jesus Christ. Many Christian churches regard it as a symbol of the transition from human life to eternal life. In addition, blue butterflies convey the feeling of beauty, happiness and hope, and will be released on some occasions, such as Christian weddings or funerals.
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Reference: The Secret of the Universe in 100 Symbols by Sarah bartlett.