Oh how they adored these little winged creatures that they even engage them into little beetle fights and place bets on them or tie a thread unto their fragile and easy to break legs.
This insect named Abal-abal in Iloco or known as May/ June beetle (named after the month they come out or seen the most) appear mostly during warm spring evenings and are attracted to light. Unlike the lady bugs their colors aren't eye catching at all.
When i was a kid we usually catch one during blackouts (not everytime tho), we find them clinging on our curtains, lurking in a corner. I was not overly fond of them. Now i get bothered whenever i hear one nearby. Whenever i see one I pick them up with a cloth or a paper and immediately throw them out, far from the house to prevent them from flying back in. The sound of them flapping around gives me goosebumps. Hahaha. Ang arte lang.
But if i were to choose on whether to hold a dozen of them or eat them? I'll choose none. Hahahaha. Why on Earth do i have to anyway.
But, Okay, perhaps the first option is a bit bearable than having them inside my system. I just don't and will never have the nerve to eat them. I am never going to. I wonder how people can eat them like they are just chewing some sort of jelly. It's gross. Haha. How can you bear it when you get to hear that crunchy sound of its breaking body upon chewing. Noooooo. Gooosies. And everything that is inside it explodes into your mouth. Goodness. Faints.
They say it is delicious.
Still.
Never.
Enough of that part.
Now, I get to share with you how I, YES, I went to catch some for fun and meal (not mine tho) despite my notion of them.
Amz asked me if i'd like to go, I was hesitant but i agreed. It was a motorbike ride to the clearing near the river in their place. It was hidden from the usual view by tall grasses that in my head i imagined it like it's just something people do to pass the time or if they want to eat such (few people gathering some beetles).
But i was wrong. The place was vast and there were already lots of people carrying with them ziplocks and cans and bottles busily spotting the ground for beetle holes. The soil was still damp from the rain that visited the place that afternoon. Seemed like we arrived too late because everywhere else was dug up. Each group has settled for their selected spot.
We didn't know where to begin looking and we didn't know if there were still bugs left for us to find. We decided to wander a little far from the others eyeing the ground for signs of bug holes yet we were unfortunate enough. Maybe the first ones to arrive already found most of them, i thought. It was getting late. We went back to where our group originally was and decided to stay there. It began to get dark as the day progressed. We grabbed some branches and twigs while Ate Vicky provided us with some 'Imud' (I'm not sure of the spelling but that is how it was pronounced) cuttings she brought. The plants served as bait for them to come near us. It has a certain smell that the beetles seem to love they say. I have no clue. At that moment, for me, it was to see is to believe. We attached the Imud at the branches we gathered from a tree nearby and planted it on the ground. Some i attached to the branch i held.
Just when we thought they were all gone. After the sun had set, beetles started to fly around one by one. The people (especially kids) began shouting and began chasing them around.
"Tiliwemun ah!" (Catch it)
"Kamatem." (Chase it)
It was fun to watch. Ha-ha. The silence of the place which was only broken by some conversations and laughs from the crowd that went to catch bugs a while ago was now gone and was replaced by the sound of flapping wings.
Gracious.
It was surreal. I have never seen such a thing in my life. Hundreds and probably thousands of beetles came out of nowhere and began swarming at the trees... And to our luck, even at the baits we had. I even chased them around, smashing beetles i hear near me with so much force, i think i might have killed them.LOL. Since we had been running around, smashing things and i guess people, our baits weren't working anymore so i grabbed the branches with Imud and stood there scarecrow-like. Haha, it worked, soon there were beetles swarming around me and the branches. I began to scream. Amz and Nicole grabbed the beetles that swarmed and landed in the branches as i kept screaming.
The number of beetles flying around soon decreased as they settled on the tree branches, too high for us to get hold of. It was really dark now and we were exhausted. We spent so much effort chasing them around, laughing, we didn't caught much but just enough. I might have caught 3 or 4. =D
Enough experience for me to want to go back and go catching again some other time perhaps.
As we walked back to where we parked our motorcycle, in a not so distant tree, twinkling lights caught my attention. That's when i realised that for the first time i was staring at fireflies. There were probably thousands of fireflies up there. In awe and wonder i smiled and kept my gaze at them. They are just lovely. I thought they never existed coz i've never seen one until then.
It was indeed a great night with great memories. Thanks to Amz for bringing me there.
Sharing some photos we took upon finding a good spot.
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