Ladybird Legends Trivia Quiz

Answer: England

The story goes that the name ladybird was given to the insect because the common version is red, and in medieval paintings the cloak worn by the Virgin Mary is frequently red. My problem with this is that I always associated the colour blue with the dress of the Virgin, and furthermore it says nothing about why a small insect should be called a bird!

In England, children chant this ditty:
"Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,
Your house is on fire and your children are gone.
All except one and her name is Ann,
And she crept under the warming pan."
There are many small variations on this. For instance I learnt "your children will roam" (at least it rhymes), and the pan is sometimes a frying pan or a pudding pan. In America of course it is a ladybug.

In Norfolk UK a ladybird is called a bishy barney bee, the origin being unclear.
Apparently when a ladybird alighted on a child's hand they would say:
"Bishy bishy barney bee
Tell me when your wedding be
If it be tomorrow day
Take your wings and fly away.
Fly to the east, fly to the west,
Fly to the one I love the best."
It makes more sense if you say "the one you love the best", but the way it is turns it into a kind of prediction.

Answer: Sweden

It was a surprise to me to find that in some countries ladybirds were referred to as some kind of cow. The origin of this seems not to be known for sure, but possibly it is because the colouring of many common ladybirds resembled a type of cow which was reddish with spots.
The Swedish have this rhyme:-
Guld-höna, guld-ko!
Flyg öster, flyg vester,
Dit du flyger der bor din älskade!
Which means in English:-
Gold-hen, gold-cow!
Fly east, fly west,
You'll fly to where your sweetheart lives.
"Guld-höna" and "guld-ko" are literally "gold-hen" and "gold-cow" in Swedish. Why gold? Perhaps yellow ladybirds with spots are prevalent in Sweden.

Answer: France

In French, poulette means chicken and La Madone is the Madonna - or Our Lady, of course.
The reason why ladybirds are sometimes called chickens or hens is obscure and convoluted!
Consider the seven spots of common ladybirds. Now think of the most easily seen stars in the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, in the constellation of Taurus.
In French the term "la Poussinière" (the Chicks House) is a vernacular name for the Pleiades, possibly because they resemble a clutch of eggs. The connection should now be obvious as my lecturers used to say at this point in the proving of a theorem.

Answer: Turkey

In Turkey they have a different slant on the ladybird. There is a children's verse that goes:
'Uç uç böceðim, annem sana terlik pabuç alacak.' (Fly, fly, my little insect, my mother will buy you slipper and shoe.)" Hmm.

Answer: Netherlands

Translated word for word from the Dutch, 'Lieveheersbeestje' means 'a sweet Lord's little creature'. One idea in the Netherlands is that ladybirds with two spots live indoors and those with more spots live outdoors.
Why a little rascal? Who knows? Perhaps entirely unconnected, the concept of Santa Claus as a little rascal is captured in the Dutch children's rhyme "Sinterklaas Kapoentje".
Sinterklaas Kapoentje,
Leg wat in mijn schoentje,
Leg wat in mijn laarsje,
Dank je Sinterklaasje!
Meaning:-
Saint Nicholas, Little Rascal,
Put something into my little shoe,
Put something into my little boot,
Thank you, little Saint Nicholas!

Answer: Germany

In Germany the ladybird goes by several names: "Siebenpunkt" , "Glückskäfer", and "Marienkäfer" for instance.
Translated word by word these names mean "Seven spot", "fortune beetle" and "Mary's beetle". A picture of a ladybird is used as symbol for luck on birthday presents, New Year cards and on the dashboard of a car.
Presumably the commonest type of ladybird in Germany, as in Sweden, is yellow.

Answer: Greece

In Greek it is called "pashalitsa", a name linked to Easter, "Pasha" to the Greeks.
Here is a song that Greek children sing when they see this pretty insect:
"Fly, fly pashalitsa to bring me shoes and pretty clothes."
Etsy is a web site which offers ceramic sculptures of the red seven-spot ladybird, called "epitihia pashalitsa".

Answer: Russia

Perhaps it was in Russia that the resemblance of a ladybird to a cow was first imagined.
A children's verse goes:
"Ladybug fly to the sky, bring me bread
Black and white but not burnt."
... Don't ask me!

Answer: USA

Because this insect benefits agriculture and delights children everywhere, the ladybug is the State Bug of Massachusetts.
Ohio, New York (Nine-spotted), New Hampshire, Tennessee and Delaware also designate the ladybug as an official state symbol. I often wonder about these official State things. What are they all about?

Answer: Wales

Children in Wales might sing this song using a ladybird as a weather forecasting device:
Buwch goch gota
pru'n a'i glaw neu hindda?
os mae glaw, cwymp o'm llaw
os mae hin, hedfana.

Which translates as:
Ladybird
Will it be rain or fair?
If it's rain, fall from my hand,
If it's fair, then fly.
The literal translation of the phrase "buwch goch gota" is "cow red coat", for what that's worth!