Editing Butterfly (section)

===In mythology and folklore===

According to [[Lafcadio Hearn]], a butterfly was seen in Japan as the personification of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead. One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guest room and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you. Large numbers of butterflies are viewed as bad [[omen]]s. When [[Taira no Masakado]] was secretly preparing his famous revolt, a vast swarm of butterflies appeared in [[Kyoto]]. The people were frightened, thinking the apparition to be a portent of coming evil.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hearn |first=Lafcadio |author-link=Lafcadio Hearn |year=1904 |title=Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things |title-link=Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things |publisher=Dover |isbn=978-0-486-21901-1}}</ref>

Diderot's ''[[Encyclopédie]]'' cites butterflies as a symbol for the soul. A Roman sculpture depicts a butterfly exiting the mouth of a dead man, representing the Roman belief that the soul leaves through the mouth.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=did;cc=did;rgn=main;view=text;idno=did2222.0001.694 |title=Butterfly |journal=Encyclopedia of Diderot and d'Alembert |access-date=1 April 2015 |date=January 2011 |last1=Louis |first1=Chevalier de Jaucourt (Biography) |archive-date=11 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811042437/http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=did;cc=did;rgn=main;view=text;idno=did2222.0001.694 |url-status=live }}</ref> In line with this, the ancient Greek word for "butterfly" is ψυχή (''psȳchē''), which primarily means "soul" or "mind".<ref>Hutchins, M., Arthur V. Evans, Rosser W. Garrison and Neil Schlager (Eds) (2003) Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 3, Insects. Gale, 2003.</ref> According to [[Mircea Eliade]], some of the [[Naga people|Nagas]] of [[Manipur]] claim ancestry from a butterfly.<ref name="Rabuzzi">Rabuzzi, M. 1997. Butterfly etymology. Cultural Entomology November 1997 Fourth issue [http://www.insects.org/ced4/etymology.html online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981203024144/http://www.insects.org/ced4/etymology.html |date=3 December 1998 }}</ref> In popular [[Culture of Myanmar|Burmese culture]], the butterfly (called ''leippya'') is symbolic of the soul or [[Vijñāna|consciousness]] of a person.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Robinne |first=François |title=Theatre of death and rebirth:: monks’ funerals in Burma |date=2012 |work=Buddhist Funeral Cultures of Southeast Asia and China |pages=165–191 |editor-last=Ladwig |editor-first=Patrice |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/buddhist-funeral-cultures-of-southeast-asia-and-china/theatre-of-death-and-rebirth/4AC1471F8207D2587C4E4E66A4563843 |access-date=2025-05-18 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511782251.009 |isbn=978-1-107-00388-0 |editor2-last=Williams |editor2-first=Paul}}</ref> During the transitory period after death, the Burmese believe that the "butterfly soul" becomes a wandering spirit in search of a new corporeality medium.<ref name=":1" /> In some cultures, butterflies symbolise [[Reincarnation|rebirth]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Church Releases Butterflies as Symbol of Rebirth |url=http://staugustine.com/living/religion/2015-04-16/church-releases-butterflies-symbol-rebirth#.Ve77UZdUWHg |publisher=The St. Augustine Record |access-date=8 September 2015 |archive-date=11 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911155013/http://staugustine.com/living/religion/2015-04-16/church-releases-butterflies-symbol-rebirth#.Ve77UZdUWHg |url-status=live }}</ref> In the English county of [[Devon]], people once hurried to kill the first butterfly of the year, to avoid a year of bad luck.<ref>Dorset Chronicle, May 1825, reprinted in: [https://archive.org/details/tablebook01honegoog "The First Butterfly"], in ''The Every-day Book and Table Book; or, Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Etc.'' Vol III, ed. William Hone, (London: 1838) p 678.</ref> In the Philippines, a lingering black or dark butterfly or moth in the house is taken to mean an impending or recent death in the family.<ref>{{cite web|title=Superstitions and Beliefs Related to Death|url=http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/culture-and-people/philippine-culture/superstitions-and-beliefs/419-superstitions-and-beliefs|website=Living in the Philippines|access-date=9 October 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042349/http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/culture-and-people/philippine-culture/superstitions-and-beliefs/419-superstitions-and-beliefs|url-status=usurped}}</ref> Several American states have chosen an [[List of U.S. state butterflies|official state butterfly]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/state_butterflies.htm |title=Official State Butterflies |publisher=NetState.com |access-date=9 September 2015 |archive-date=3 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703023414/http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/state_butterflies.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{anchor|Collecting}}{{anchor|Rearing}}{{anchor|As pets}}{{anchor|Preservation}}