Day 4: Spanish Moss

Moss, originally uploaded by tjkmfk.

I see this stuff everyday and don't usually think too much about it, but today for some reason I found myself thinking of the legend that goes along with the plant. As I was walking my son to school this morning I snapped a quick picture and thought I'd share the legend with you.

"As the story goes; there was once a traveler who came with his Spanish fiancée in the 1700s to start a plantation near the city of Charleston SC. She was a beautiful bride-to-be with long flowing raven hair. As the couple was walking over the plantation sight[sic] near the forest, and making plans for their future, they were suddenly attacked by a band of Cherokee who were not happy to share the land of their forefathers with strangers. As a final warning to stay away from the Cherokee nation, they cut off the long dark hair of the bride-to-be and threw it up in an old live oak tree. As the people came back day after day and week after week, they began to notice the hair had shriveled and turned grey and had begun spreading from tree to tree. Over the years the moss spread from South Carolina to Georgia and Florida. To this day, if one stands under a live oak tree, one will see the moss jump from tree to tree and defend itself with a large army of beetles."-- This is from Wiki.

So many things in our daily lives have symbolic meanings. Some are cultural and others are personal. They enrich our lives.
It's cool here today after the cold front passed through. My dad would call it 'blackberry winter.' The old saying is that blackberries require a lower temperature to bloom. It was rather refreshing to walk in the cool air this morning seeing the Spanish moss moving in the breeze.