Our Blessed Mother Mary makes herself known in ways great and small. The inspiration behind the design of our new Ladybug Summer Fabric collection comes from one of the smallest!
Dating back to Middle Ages, tradition points us to Our Lady’s title crossing over to one of God’s smallest creatures, the Ladybug.
Here is how the story goes: during the Middle Ages, crops were plagued by small insects, probably aphids, leading to devastating crop failures. The people began praying for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to save their crops and save the continent of Europe from starvation. Our Lady responded by sending red and black flying beetles who ate the plaguing aphids, miraculously saving the food crops. In thanksgiving, the bugs were titled, “Our Lady’s Beetle.” With time, the name was shortened to “ladybeetle” or “ladybird”. And today, affectionately know as “lady bug”.
Another tie to the Blessed Virgin Mary is by the color of the bugs. Mary is depicted in medieval art wearing a red cloak. In Europe, ladybugs are also commonly seen with seven black spots, making the connection to Mary with her seven joys and seven sorrows.
These two stories of the ladybug tie its origins directly as a gift from God. In a multitude of European languages, the word “ladybug”, refer to Our Lady.
This connection to Our Lady was a new learning for me-but as I saw the joy in my kid's eyes each time they found a ladybug, I knew I had to create a cheerful summer collection from it.
Shop the collection over at Spoonflower HERE
But - that's not all. I had soo much fun creating this, I had to include a fun summer activity pack for FREE! Check it out HERE.
I hope these designs make you smile as much as they do for me :)
