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The following is an excerpt from a handout prepared for
Entomology 111: Insects and Human Affairs at the
University of California/Davis.
"What a coincidence-- that's my sign too!"
In lists of insect movies I have generated with students "Beetlejuice" is sometimes proffered for inclusion. Although Beetlejuice, a ghost, eats a fly in the movie, his name, and the movie, has little to do with insects. I imagine the screenwriter chose the name mostly because it sounds gross-- but also because it is a pun on a frequently mispronounced name: Betelgeuse (pronounced, of course, "Beetlejuice"). The name refers to a star in the constellation Orion where it marks "the shoulder of the giant" (which is the literal translation of the Arabic phrase "bat al-dshauz" from which the name Betelgeuse is derived).Although the star Betelgeuse has nothing to do with insects, the constellation Orion, in which it appears, is connected with the constellation Scorpio , which does, at least, represent an arthropod, if not an insect. In Greek mythology, the giant Orion is said to have been hounded by a huge scorpion as punishment for his romantic involvement with the goddess, Artemis. After he is killed, Artemis places Orion in the night sky, opposite the starry image of the deadly Scorpio, such that to this day they chase each other around the vault of heaven. Similarly the ancient Persians believed that Scorpio was the emissary of evil sent to destroy life by attacking the sacred bull (Taurus, which can be seen adjacent to Orion).
Cancer , like Scorpio, is another arthropod constellation occurring in the zodiac (constellations that lie in the plane of the ecliptic) and a number of other constellations are associated with arthropods. The constellation Musca (the Fly), was first charted in the southern skies by the Dutchmen Pietr Dirkz Keyser and Frederic de Houtman between the years 1595-1597 (and was originally designated as Apis Australis (the Australian Bee). The star cluster Praesaepe , which lies in the center of the constellation Cancer, is also known as `the Beehive' (apparently because of its resemblance to a swarm of bees) although this appears to be a relatively recent moniker and there are no myths (that I could find) connecting it with bees.
Of course, these constellations are only those recognized in the western traditions-- other cultures had their own versions. For instance, the Blackfoot Indians envisioned the stars of the Corona Borealis as the Spider Grandmother whose great web covered much of the night sky. Very close to the area of the sky where the constellation Taurus can be found are the Pleiades . This distinct cluster of six stars (seven to the sharp-eyed) was perceived by the Chiriguana people of South America as a swarm of bees, and their appearance in the night sky was an important calendar mark which indicated that honey harvesting time was at hand.
As indicated by their appearance in ancient myths and the calendar/constellation signs to which the myths often refer, arthropods had a profound effect on life in predominantly agrarian cultures, particularly as dangerous pests: scorpions and poisonous spiders-- or as pests and plagues: flies-- or as food: crabs and bees (both the insects themselves and the honey they produced were utilized for food by many agrarian cultures)-- but never, as far as I know, as beetle juice.
click here for a more detailed essay about constellations and their connection with beekeeping.
Copyright © 2007 Conrad Bérubé, site design, concept and scripting. All rights reserved worldwide.