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Melfka’s Birthday Week: All the Pretty Dragonflies

Welcome to my Birthday Week during which I post random, interesting or embarrassing facts about myself. If you missed the introductory post, you can find it here. Today you’re going to have a peek into my peculiar relationship with dragonflies.

There are people out there who collect “everything cat” or “everything dolphin”, and if I had an obsession like that, it would be with dragonflies. Yet, at the same time I own hardly anything with dragonflies…

I can hardly remember how my “fascination” started, but two memories come to my mind.

Dragonflies - a dragonfly made from felt wool

By the Lake, Watching Them Fly and Drown

I was in early twenties when I went camping with a few of my friends. One evening, my boyfriend at the time and I were sitting at the wooden pier, watching the lake. Above the water surface right beside us, a swarm of dragonflies was mating. It was a mesmerizing view because of their stunning colors, but… not very romantic one. You see, the dragonfly females, when they were done, would float down, to the lake, and drown the male to detach him. My boyfriend was quite disturbed by the concept while I was quite fascinated by the Nature’s mechanism. Besides, the dragonflies were so beautiful.

Dragonflies - silver brooches

Wisdom from the Leather-working Mystic

Another memory brings back the time when I was visiting Poznań’s Old Market Square. In the galleries of the renovated townhouses, craftsmen had their stalls. This was a heaven for me and my friends, as we preferred handmade jewelry and accessories to the trendy ones, so visited quite often. A leather-working woman, whenever you bought something, would share a piece of folk wisdom, and that day she asked us for our birth months and told us our signs. “You’re a dragonfly,” she told me. “You should be careful with your sinuses and blood circulation, because they’ll cause you trouble.”

I’m not one to believe in horoscopes (though they do amuse me on occasion), but I liked dragonflies. It was definitely nicer to be a beautiful dragonfly than, let’s say a boring butterfly or a mundane dolphin, right? As a random trivia, the woman was right. In the following years, when I moved over to Ireland, I had a lot of trouble with sinuses, and I attribute my often cold hands and feet with possible circulation issues. I still don’t believe in horoscopes, but it always amuse me she got to be right about these.

Dragonflies - a brooch

Nature’s Hidden Dragons

In Polish, dragonfly’s name: WAŻKA (vajh-kah) has nothing to do with dragons, so you can imagine I love its English name for that elusive connection with dragons a fantasy fan has to love. And as dragons would be my other fascination (though similarly neglected), it seemed even more perfect.

Dragonflies - pendants

Collection? What collection?

As I mentioned above, I don’t really have a collection of dragonfly-related things (and same goes for dragons). If you’ve read my post about my favorite earrings, you probably know already that I’m very picky when it comes to styles, so I’m far from buying anything and everything that has a dragonfly as a part of design.

At the same time, the dragonfly things I own, are my favorites and I love them unconditionally, because they’re just perfect for me.

I’m sure that my collection is eventually going to grow, but I don’t expect it to take over my home. I don’t strive to have the biggest collection of “everything dragonfly”… just the prettiest one.

What about you? Do you have any themed collections or favorite design?


This post is a part of Melfka’s Birthday Week 2018. Check out other posts in the series:

Joanna Maciejewska

Joanna Maciejewska is a fantasy and science fiction author who enjoys all things SFF: books, movies, and video games. Her short stories appeared in magazines and anthologies in Polish and in English. Her epic fantasy adventure series, starting with By the Pact, is available in ebook and paperback at all major retailers.

This Post Has 12 Comments

  1. J.R.Bee

    The murderous dragonfly thing was not what I expected to read about why you love them 😀

    1. Melfka

      It’s not exactly why I love them :P, but it is a fascinating memory.

      1. J.R.Bee

        It sure is bound to stick with you at any rate 😀

  2. sjhigbee

    lol… I LOVE the fact that you were fascinated by the female drowning the male – it’s the sort of detail that snags the interest of writers… And your non-collection is beautiful, but I still think they have to be the most stunning of all insects. Thank you for yet more random details, Joanna.

    1. Melfka

      It’s interesting what small details sometimes stay with us, isn’t it? 🙂
      And you’re welcome. I hope you enjoyed reading about them.

  3. Alchemy Ocelot

    You would have loved the Carboniferous. Back then dragonflies measured over 70 cm wingspan.

    1. Melfka

      It’s not always about the size, you know… 😉

  4. portiabridget

    Oh, dragonflies are lovely indeed, especially those dark blue beasts and indeed, they are among the oldest creatures which shape remained roughly unchanged over the centuries – fascinating! A lovely collection!

    1. Melfka

      I’m sure you recognize at least one piece of it. 😉

  5. saraletourneau

    Female dragonflies drown their mates? That’s a new fact for me!

    I too love dragonflies (in fact, I think we might have talked about that over at my blog before). They’re beautiful, and from a symbolism perspective they represent positivity and living in the moment – ideas that resonate with me and that I’m trying to practice more often in my own life. In terms of a dragonfly collection, I have two pairs of earrings and one necklace, and one of the small decorative plaques hanging in my hallway feature dragonflies, butterflies (another creature I feel an affinity for), and inspirational sayings.

    1. Melfka

      I’d love to see your collection one day :).
      I’m not sure if I missed your post about dragonflies, didn’t get to it yet, or don’t remember, but when I get through the backlog, I’ll see if I can find it.

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