A Plague of Locusts

Here in Northern Kentucky, we have been inundated by Magicicada septendecim, also known as the Pharaoh Cicada. This little beastie has a seventeen-year life cycle (evident in its scientific name of "septendecim", which means seventeen) and this year is apparently year seventeen for the ones in our area. I have never seen so many insects all at once, and that includes several large ant nests that I have had the “pleasure” of discovering.

People have reported that the noise of their chirping is deafening. Our house must be well insulated as I can’t hear them from inside, but I hear them when I’m out in the garden. And I SEE them. As a former science teacher, I am interested in all of God’s creatures, but these bugs are overwhelming. There are just too many of them. They conjure up images of the Egyptian Plagues. (Maybe that's why they are called "Pharaoh" cicadas?) They make me think of the end of the world.

People with less scientific knowledge than most of us who studied science in high school or college must be amazed, or shocked, or terrified to witness such an event. People from the fifth century had only the knowledge of the natural world that they learned from their elders, and whatever they witnessed for themselves. They had to come to their own conclusions, and often those conclusions included the supernatural. The gods were in control of the weather. The gods created the abundance and the dearth of all the things that lived in the land they occupied. These days we have to factor in the effect that we, homo sapiens, have had on our environment.   

There are cicadas in Britain, but they are not periodic in their breeding habits, therefore Aethelreda and her people would never have seen what we are witnessing right now.

Speaking of apocalyptic events, there was something far more terrifying than a plague of locusts, though – the bubonic plague. A Spanish chronicler Hydatius mentioned a plague that spread throughout the known world and may have started in 443.   That is, of course, within the time frame of "Bound by an Oath" but since Aethelreda’s people were rather isolated in their village, I think it would be possible that they might have avoided contact with that particular pandemic, and so I did not mention it. But if I write about the sixth century in my sequel, I will have to consider the effects of the Plague of Justinian which claimed the lives of 25 to 60 percent of those living in Europe at the time.

Meanwhile, back here in Kentucky, I’m not as keen on gardening as I once was! Because of the “yuck” factor of being up close to the hordes of insects, I’m restricted to areas that are in the open and provide no trees for egg laying. The good news/bad news is that these apocalyptic insects will return to the ground in another four weeks, or sooner, if I have any influence on the forces of nature! 

While I can easily get the creeps when I see the thousands of cicadas in my garden, I keep reminding myself that they are just harmless insects doing their thing. They do not eat my beloved plants. They do not bite humans, or other animals. They simply respond to the instincts that they were programmed with, and this year is “come out of the ground, find a mate, lay eggs, and return to the ground” year. 

The members of Magicicada septendecim are known by scientists as Brood XIV and it is estimated that 1.5million of them can be found in one acre! We have half an acre, so we might be home to about 750,000 of them. And I believe it.