038 | MEMORIES | FAUNA | BOOSTED
Where Did All The Butterflies Go?
Tracing their sacred journey
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Today, I spotted a butterfly. I know, it is not so significant. After all, how many butterflies does the average person see on a daily basis? And this butterfly is not a very colorful one, a plain yellow color one.
But you know what? In our early days, butterflies were abundant during this time of year, ranging from white to yellow in our yards.
So we wanted to catch some of them and keep them as pets. Since there were so many of them, for our little minds it is a fair deal to catch a couple or two.
But our grandma advised against it. She used to say that butterflies were on a sacred journey and should be allowed to fly freely. Being a curious bunch, we asked her about this journey.
According to the grandma, the period after the new year, when flowers bloom, butterflies appear everywhere and fly from flower to flower, following a specific direction.
They are headed in the direction of Sri Padaya also known as Adam’s Peak. It is our most sacred mountain. Our grandma explained that countless butterflies make this journey to worship at the mountain and it would be their final journey too. So, we should never ever disturb them by any means.
Due to this sacred journey of butterflies, Sri Padaya is also referred to as ‘Samanala Mountain’ or ‘Mountain of the Butterflies.’
Since you are not familiar with Sri Padaya, let me make a brief explanation here.
Sri Padaya is considered the most sacred place in our country as it is believed to be the spot where Lord Buddha left his footprint during his third visit to our island. And Hindus believe it to be the footprint of Hanuman or Lord Shiva, while Muslims and Catholics believe it belongs to Adam.
So we did not harm those butterflies since they were on a sacred journey. Now, as an adult, I believe there may be some truth to this incident beyond it being a clever way of disciplining us.
In reality, we did observe that butterflies were most abundant between New Year and the Wesak Full Moon Poya Day period, and they always seemed to be heading in the direction of Sri Padaya. So, those butterflies were indeed making a sacred journey.
However, in the past, we used to witness an abundance of butterflies during this period. But today, it has become difficult to spot them. While we used to wonder where butterflies go, we are now left asking ourselves, Where Did All The Butterflies Go?
