A cricket on the hearth has always been a symbol of good luck and a happy home. But what other meanings does the humble cricket have in store? Let’s explore some cricket symbolism to learn all about the fortune and wisdom that this charming little bug can bring into your life.
Table of contents
Cricket Symbolism and Meaning
Good Luck
As you already know, cricket symbolism is all about good luck. This insect is a positive symbol that is thought to bring favorable fortune into your life and foretell a period of prosperity and opportunity. But, because it is so closely linked with good luck, to harm or kill a cricket represents bad luck and is thought to reverse your good fortune.
Intuition
The cricket’s long antennae connect it with sensation and intuition. Crickets may represent perception or the art of becoming “in tune” with what’s around you. Because of this, crickets may also symbolize vigilance or protection.
Hospitality
In art, a cricket may symbolize good luck or warmth. It is often said that if a cricket enters your home, it has come because it senses that yours is a warm, safe, and happy home. That’s why it’s such good luck. So, a cricket can symbolize warmth, comfort, or hospitality.
When a cricket is painted inside someone’s home in art, it’s a sign that tells the viewer that this character is a kind and generous person with a loving home that’s open to others.
Inner strength
Although it is tiny, the lucky cricket is a potent symbol. Many people all around the world go out of their way to avoid harming crickets because they are believed to be so closely tied to your fortune. This is all in spite of the cricket’s tiny helpless shape. So, crickets can symbolize inner strength, humility, and the importance of looking beneath the surface of things. The cricket should not be underestimated just because it is small.
Expression
Besides good luck or hospitality, crickets are most known for their musical talents. the chirping of crickets is a universal sort of music that’s synonymous with peace and the fall of evening. Crickets can symbolize music or self-expression and represent the power of creating art just for the sake of it.
The chirping of crickets is also sometimes used to punctuate awkward silences. So, crickets can represent silence, disconnection, or embarrassment.
Playfulness
Crickets can represent playfulness or childhood. Their cheerful chirping and the way that they hop to move around is reminiscent of the joy and enthusiasm that children have for life. Crickets represent innocence and happiness.
Wisdom
Finally, cricket symbolism is connected to wisdom. Just like the talking cricket (Jiminy Cricket in the Disney version) from the popular fairytale Pinocchio, crickets represent wisdom and good judgment as well as a strong conscience. Pinocchio doesn’t want to listen to the cricket at first, but as he matures and learns the lessons that will help him become human, he slowly realizes the wisdom and guidance in his cricket companion’s words.
Cricket Native American Symbolism
For many Native Americans, cricket sounds are an excellent sign of fortune, but for tribes in the West, the crickets’ meaning is the exact opposite. There, crickets sometimes symbolize bad luck, especially if you find the cricket in your house. This is a fascinating reversal of the typical “cricket on the hearth” symbolism.
The Cheyenne used crickets to help them hunt buffalo. They believed that crickets could predict the ways that buffalo herds moved. So, crickets symbolized the hunt.
The Cherokee view the cricket as a witty and courageous character who manages to succeed in any situation despite their physical limitations.
On the other hand, the Natives people of Mexico might not give them so much spiritual credit. For them, the cricket was (and still is!) a favorite food.
A Native American story depicts the possum having a gorgeous and furry tail, igniting jealousy in the rabbit’s heart, which had no tail at all because of the bear.
A dance is organized in the animal kingdom. The rabbit plots along with the cricket, who was considered the barber of the forest and an excellent hair cutter, to shave the possum’s tail without him knowing.
At the dance, the possum unveils his tail from the ribbons the cricket embellished his tail with and becomes the laughing stock of the evening.
Cricket Eastern Symbolism
In Chinese culture, a cricket’s chirping’s meaning is good luck and is viewed as music. These insects are treated with deep respect. During the Tang Dynasty, people would even catch the crickets and cage them inside the house to hear them sing.
The symbolism of crickets used to be very important to the Chinese royal family, as depicted in the “Last Emperor” movie in which the young emperor Pu Yi keeps a cricket caged behind the throne till the end of his life.
Chinese farmers examined the cricket animal’s appearance and disappearance as an omen for when to plant crops and when to harvest.
Because of the large number of eggs that a cricket lays, considering crickets good luck and a sign of success was a common idea and a way to wish families many children.
The Chinese people still hold great admiration for this little insect even today and associate it with summer, courage, and a strong fighting spirit.
On the other hand, for the Japanese, the mole cricket symbolism is connected to the changing of seasons and the coming of autumn. They also kept these insects as pets and appreciated the sound of their chirping. Mole crickets have a history of being kept as pets and sold in marketplaces and pet shops.
Cricket Christianity symbolism
What do crickets represent in the Bible? The New Testament illustrates John the Baptist eating crickets or locusts. Some argue that this actually refers to carob rather than insects, but in any case, John the Baptist’s connection with crickets associates them with asceticism, self-sufficiency, and faith.
The scriptures of the Old Testament present strict rules on the kinds of animals that are pure enough to be acceptable to eat. You might be surprised to learn that crickets actually make the cut. John the Baptist’s cricket diet was Leviticus-approved!
The hospitality and humility connected with the cricket means that Christian cricket symbolism can be tied to the virtue of “love thy neighbors.” The cricket reminds Christians to be generous, forgiving, and hospitable to others and to treat everyone as family.
Because of their connection to locusts, crickets can also represent the Plagues of Egypt and can be a reminder of both the power of God’s protection and the might of his wrath. Crickets represent the importance of keeping promises.
Cricket Celtic Symbolism
We’ve examined cricket symbolize from the Bible and from East Asia, but what do crickets symbolize for Celtic cultures? In some ways, the symbolism is largely the same. Like other cultures from around the world, Celtic cricket symbolism connects these bugs with good luck and wisdom.
They are a very positive sign. A cricket in the home is thought to protect the home from mischief and magic.
Crickets are especially connected with wisdom and some Celtic folklore describes them as creatures with incredible stories to tell and long lifespans reaching hundreds of years old. They were called “Old Folks” and knew the entire history of the world.
Old wives’ tales and children’s games suggest that the cricket can be used to predict the weather. Some celts believed that faster weather made the cricket’s metabolism speed up so that the insect would chirp faster. Counting the number of cricket chirps could help you determine when summer would come!
Cricket African Symbolism
African cricket symbolism includes both positive and negative meanings. Crickets are welcomed in gardens in South Africa, but seen as a bad sign inside the home. Leaving superstitions and folklore aside, the crickets found on this continent are stubborn pests. So it’s no wonder they’re a bit less well-liked there.
An African urban legend depicts the Parktown prawn cricket as a genetic experiment resulting from students’ research, making this insect unusually big and robust with orange colors.
This insect is also a symbol of strength and power in this region due to another species, the armored bush crickets, which are protected by bones and spines and can also attack predators with their blood.
On the other hand, it is also a symbol of fertility and prosperity.
Crickets are viewed as a sign of upcoming rain and a predictor of a future romance to come.
Cricket in Dreams
Crickets are poignant dream symbols that tend to foretell something good in the future, but it can be hard to know exactly what wisdom they have in store for you.
What do black crickets mean in dreams?
If a big black cricket appears in your dreams, it might mean that you need to be more positive. The things that you’re interpreting as challenges might actually be opportunities. Look for the silver lining and be careful not to push others away. Sometimes an attitude adjustment is all it takes to see huge improvements in your life.
What do crickets chirping mean in dreams?
Hearing crickets in your dreams can mean that a period of prosperity or abundance is coming soon. The things you have to work hard to earn right now will soon come naturally to you. Just make sure you stay focused and don’t isolate yourself from others as you work towards your goals.
What does it mean if a cricket jumps on you in a dream?
A cricket jumping on you or landing on your body in a dream can represent anxiety. Maybe you feel nervous about the outcome of one of your past decisions? Try not to be too hard on yourself. Sometimes all you can do is take the path of least resistance and accept whatever outcome life has in store for you.
What does it mean to dream about a dead cricket?
Killing a cricket or finding a dead cricket in a dream can represent bad luck. But it can also represent transition. Maybe you’re entering a new phase in your life where you’ll have to let go of the past and say goodbye to some things that were once dear to you. Moving forward can be hard, but you’ll be happier if you make peace with change.
Cricket Encounters and Omens
We’ve discussed so many different cultures and their feeling about crickets, but what’s the consensus? Is encountering a cricket good luck or bad luck? The answer depends on how you choose to interpret things, but I will always see a cricket as good luck; especially inside the home.
Encountering a cricket can mean that a decision you’ve been nervous about will turn out okay in the end. Have trust in your judgment and make a leap of faith. The cricket reminds you that everything will owkr out the way it’s supposed to.
In Zambia, a black cricket is a sign of illness, the grey one is of money, and a green cricket is a symbol of hope.
In Germany, encountering a cricket is sometimes thought of as a bad omen, indicating a loved one’s death. If it’s chirping louder than usual, then it’s a sign of bad weather.
Killing a cricket is thought to bring bad luck, but this is especially true on Sundays. Some people also believe that if you disrespect a cricket it will chirp about it and warn other crickets that you are not to be trusted.
Cricket Mythology and Folklore
We’ve already discussed lots of bits and pieces of cricket myths and folklore.
In Native American myths , the cricket is both an excellent barber and a wise figure that can predict the movements of buffalo herds.
In fairytales, the cricket is both wise and kind and advises characters like Pinocchio to stop and think before they act.
In East Asian folklore, the cricket is both lucky and admired.
The talking cricket is a symbol of the conscience, the higher self, and the moral fibers that guide a person’s actions.
In Greek mythology, the goddess of the damn, Eos, loved a man named Tithonus. Because he was a mortal, she feared he would die and asked Zeus to make him immortal, but she forgot to ask for eternal youth. Because of this, Tithonus aged continuously until he became a withered old husk. He was conscious and suffering, so Eos turned him into a cricket or a cicada to ease his pain. Because of this Greek cricket myth, crickets can be connected with old age, love, and selflessness.
Cricket Spirit Animal
People with the cricket as their spirit animal are cheerful and kind with generous hearts and strong moral backbones. The cricket spirit animal takes responsibility for its actions and holds both good judgment and integrity in high esteem.
People with the cricket spirit animal are hard workers who don’t make excuses for themselves. They accept failures with grace and try to learn from challenges.
The cricket spirit is humble and knows the value of silence as well as the power of a loud and fearless voice. If your spirit animal is the cricket then you strive for balance.
People with this spirit animal want to help others, but may find that their loved ones feel too much pressure when held to the cricket’s high standards of accountability. It’s okay to uplift others, but remember to be forgiving of mistakes in yourself and your friends.
Cricket Totem Animal
The cricket totem animal is connected with messages. People with this totem animal are natural-born writers who find that conveying their thoughts with words is a deeply fulfilling experience. If your totem animal is the cricket, keeping a journal might be a really helpful way to achieve mental clarity.
The cricket totem also represents the power of observation. People with this totem are in tune with their surroundings and pay close attention to what happens around them. Because of this, they are often the first to notice when a loved one is hurt or sad.
Cricket Power Animal
The cricket power animal is connected with foresight and prophecy. If the cricket power animal is in your corner then you may find that the future feels less uncertain than usual.
The cricket power animal brings clear vision and confidence to your future and helps you choose the right path with ease.
Lean on the cricket power animal when you need help choosing the right path or quelling anxiety about the future.
Because crickets are excellent musicians, a cricket power animal’s guidance can also be a huge source of inspiration and may guide you toward self-expression and artistic achievement.
Cricket Tattoo Meaning
What does a cricket symbolize as a tattoo?
The cricket tattoo symbolizes love for animals, nature, and everything mysterious. It is suited for sensitive people that are very insightful.
It is usually chosen by those who feel relatively small compared to others but know that they can do many great things inside them. A cricket tattoo can also work as a lucky little charm on one’s body, because they are a symbol of fortune.
A cartoon cricket tattoo is a symbol of good luck, innocence, and protection. It is a beautiful little insect known to make beautiful sounds and is usually chosen by sensitive and expressive people.
If it’s a Chinese cricket tattoo, it is associated with a person’s fighting spirit.
Further potential meanings for a cricket tattoo include:
- Conscience
- Wisdom
- Virtue
- Integrity
- Humility
- Creativity
- Forgiveness
- Generosity
- Hospitality
Conclusion
For such a tiny bug, the cricket has an enormous presence on symbolism and folklore around the world. I hope this article has helped you learn more about what makes the cricket such a special insect and how its presence can make a difference in your life!
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