23 június, 2008

Blooming of the river

A wonderful and unique phenomenon can be observed once in a year on the river Tisza. After 3 years of sleeping in the depth of the river, ten thousands of small insects, named may-flies perform their dance above the water. They have a life of few hours, as after copulation and laying their eggs, these creatures die and cover the surface of the river. This happens each year somewhere around June and can be observed for a few days only. The Hungarian language says, every day in the afternoon the Tisza is "blooming". They call these insects the Tisza flowers. You may ask the question: what is the essence of their life? Hard to answer.