Everything you want to know about...
Loomees!
General Information:
Pronunciation: “LOO-mee"
Plural: Loomees
Baby Loomee: Nymph
Group of Loomees: Festival (Example: A festival of loomees)
General Information:
Loomees are an insect with magical, fairy-like features. Their uniquely shaped wings appear at will with a magical glow. This glow is a color unique to each loomee. They come in all sorts of colors with varieties of patterns on their bodies.
These colors can range quite far from anything that isn't neon or unnaturally saturated. (Natural colors or colors that are very muted and dull)
Most loomees have a little scruff of fluff around their necks, and black-tipped feet. These feet always end in a point and allow the little bug to cling onto any surface.
Each loomee has two nubs on its head and back. Their wings appear from the nubs on its back. Some loomees have even been seen with antenna that come from the nubs on their heads! (Or so it's rumored)
Diet & Lifespan:
Loomees absolutely love berries! You will see them flocking in berry bushes during the summer. Loomees are able to eat berries that are otherwise poisonous to wyngrew, so many farmers will grow these kinds of bushes in their farms as a means to keep loomees off their edible crops. Plus, having loomees around is always a mood booster! (Wyngrew love them)
Loomees only live for two or three years, breeding in the summers and hibernating in the winter. They grow dormant in trees during the cold months when food is hard to find, unless wyngrew take them into their cozy homes during the winter where fruit is hung up on trees for them. fruit is a special treat and they absolutely adore anything sweet and juicy.
Loomee Light Festival
The Loomee Light Festival is a tradition celebrated by most communities of wyngro. Technically a Luxhallow tradition, but celebrated by those who don't follow the religion as well. Luxhallow states that Chii'falla herself was guided by three wandering loomees on her path to find light.
The relationship between wyngrew and loomees is thought to have begun when during cold winter months, gros bringing in firewood or evergreen boughs for decoration would discover the bugs among the branches or under the bark, where they had been taking refuge. Like many insects that live longer than a year, they overwinter by finding places to hibernate where they will be safe from frost.
Wyngrew homes were ideal to stay warm throughout the winter, so loomees are more than happy to sneak in and take shelter there. Wyngrew of olden times began to enjoy the glow that loomees brought into their homes, creating a beautiful atmosphere to an otherwise cold and reclusive winter.
Now, if the bugs do not get cold enough to hibernate, they require food! While loomees will suck on and eat pretty much anything, they prefer sweets, with fruits being a favorite. This is when the tradition of cutting down trees to bring into the homes and hanging fruit from the branches began. These trees were used as a seasonal home for the loomees, discarded once the weather warmed up.
Because of how they spread light and cheer throughout the homes of wyngrew in the winter, loomees were considered lucky insects that were meant to be honored and protected.
Loomees are considered to be lucky, and therefore it is unlucky to purposefully harm one. Squishing a loomee or otherwise harming/killing them is very frowned upon in wyngro communities, especially smaller towns in colder climates that celebrate them during the winter season.
Additionally, the loomee's good fortune was thought to protect the family living in the home as well. Being able to provide for the tiny guests is a good sign that the family hosting them is doing well. Curiously, loomees who spend a lot of time around gros live longer than ones in the wild. Some gros have even reported seeing the same loomees for years in a row.
The idea that loomees are lucky may be even older still, however. Folk tales going way back beyond memory state that watching their colorful light displays in the spring and summer will increase one's chances of finding true love, or strengthen the bonds of couples who watch them. Watching a loomee festival light dance is still considered romantic to this day.
