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July 8, 2025

The many lives of butterflies

These gentle creatures star in folklore from cultures around the world

Readers keep asking for more stories. Mostly everything written about butterflies is positive. Butterflies are powerful symbols of  hope and rebirth. They also symbolize freedom, beauty and the soul.

Wandering back to long-ago Mexico, butterflies represented warriors lost in battle. In Mesoamerica, the temples of Teotihuacan are adorned with brightly-colored paintings and carvings of butterflies and, associated with the souls of fallen warriors. The Hope and Zuni considered butterflies the souls of women lost in childbirth.

Typically, Native Americans considered butterflies a positive symbol and believed they should be thought of as comforting. A story among some Pueblo tribes regarding the butterfly was that the Creator took the most beautiful colors in the world and placed them into a bag.

[Butterflies] symbolize Freedom, beauty and the soul

In Ireland butterflies are known for the ability to pass easily between this world and the next.  They are transforming angels carrying dream whispers and longings to the Spirit World. There is a famous Roman statue of a butterfly flying out of the open mouth of a dead man, indicating that the soul was leaving his body via the mouth.

In many African cultures, butterflies are seen as messengers from the Spirit World or as symbols of transformation and rebirth. Their metamorphosis from humble caterpillars to elegant butterflies mirrors themes of growth, renewal and spiritual evolution.

Butterflies have long been appreciated in Chinese culture as symbols of freedom, romance and beauty. The image of butterflies lingering over flowers often suggests the felicitous union between a male and a female as women are often likened to blossoms.

According to folklore, a wish given to a butterfly is always granted, in exchange for setting the butterfly free.

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