Overview

Brood X Cicadas refers to the cyclical natural event in which thousands of cicadas come out of their hibernation cycle and swarm the U.S., being a general nuisance. Since these cicadas are loud, in huge numbers and notorious for eating lots of vegetation, their cyclical spawn is often the subject of memes online. Memes referencing the cicadas and their habits circulate different social media sites online as the swarm begins to form and spread, such as the emergence of Brood X in summer 2021.

Background

Back in 2004, a large swarm of cicadas appeared in the U.S. During this spawn, the cicadas mated, ate plants and then later died off. However, their brood hatched and went into hibernation, waiting 17 years until they will burrow back up and start the cycle again. There are over a dozen broods of cicadas that are on a cyclical pattern, but Brood X, the tenth one recognized and tracked, is by far the most notorious.

Memes about Brood X cicadas started around the turn of the year, but because it's a long, drawn-out wait, some users online already had cicada-related memes ready before the event. For example, the Twitter^[1] account @cicadamania tweeted a Keep Calm And Carry On meme using the 17-year cicadas as the punchline. This tweet was posted on January 23rd, 2013, and though it only gained five retweets, it acknowledged that this is something that has been expected for quite some time (shown below).

Online Reaction

Before the cicadas arrived in summer 2021, people were already making memes about their eventual takeover of the skies. Upon starting their spawn, the response online was mixed. Some, like Twitter^[2] user @CoachGTowne, were in wonderment of the event and posted videos about their unique sounds online for others to be able to get a taste of it on June 7th, 2021 (shown below).

Volume up. My friends down south and west that don’t get to experience the Brood X 17 yr hatch. It sounds like a UFO for real. #broodX pic.twitter.com/VRJorc6sLJ

— Greg Towne (@CoachGTowne) June 7, 2021

On the other end of the spectrum, people such as Twitter^[3] user @alysonbeata, who tweeted a video of the cicadas on June 6th, said that she was scared to leave her house (shown below).

If anyone is wondering why I refuse to go outside in Maryland right now… This. This is why. #broodx pic.twitter.com/zQccWpHQWA

— Alyson B. Farzad-Phillips (@alysonbeata) June 6, 2021

On June 7th, 2021, Redditor Hazy-Bolognese posted another example referencing Brood X to the /r/Maryland^[4] subreddit that depicted the cicadas appearing on weather radar, receiving over 1,200 upvotes and 110 comments in three days (seen below).

Various Examples

External References