Restless jewellery

Once upon a time there was a princess who was in love with a common civilian. She knew that she would never be allowed to marry him. Her heart was broken and she mourned day and night because of this forbidden love. A Maya-priest heard her crying and learned about the cause of her grief. He turned her in to a shining beetle, a living jewel. Dit way her love wore her on his chest. And this is how she spent the rest of her life close to the heart of the one she loved.

Today, this story is told in Yucatán. The beetles spend most of their life as a larva. Their transformation into adulthood marks the end of their existance. Once turned into a beetle they stop eating, propagate and die. The Maya's of the Yucatán peninsula decorate these beetles with semi-precious stones and attach them to a small golden chain with a safety pin. Once attached to the clothes of the buyer, the beetle will spend the rest of his short life walking around aimlessly. The picture above is from a real beetle.