#bottle trees

[maureen2musings]

benjaminbarakat

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Bottle Tree Paradise

Socotra is one of my favourite places, but when it comes to a specific location, this one stands out. It doesn’t have an official name, as it’s not a destination for the few fortunate tourists who visit Socotra. After shooting there for the past four years and scouting the island, I’ve discovered hidden gems like this one, which I call Bottle Tree Paradise. Bottle trees are unique to Socotra, a result of the island’s long isolation from the mainland. This separation allowed them to evolve distinctive features, such as their bottle-shaped trunks

Benjamin Barakat

Milky Way Photographer of the Year Competition

[jadeseadragon]

Repost @hobopeeba

"The most magical forest in Socotra: Bottle trees during blooming season. Like Flowers with own vases."

The Socotra "Desert Rose" (Adenium obesum)

[ncwortcunning]

The Magic and Folklore of Bottle Trees

If you ever drive through rural areas of the United States, you may see bottle trees. More than yard art, they actually have a magical purpo

Spend any time at all driving through Appalachia or parts of the American South, especially in rural areas, and you may get a glimpse of the phenomenon known as the bottle tree. Typically made from blue bottles, the bottle tree is said to trap evil spirits and keep them out of your home.

[movingtothefarm]

Haint Blue porches and blue glass Bottle trees

[kemetic-dreams]

Hoodoo is linked to a popular tradition of bottle trees in the United States. According to gardener and glass bottle researcher Felder Rushing, the use of bottle trees came to the Old South from Africa with the slave trade. The use of blue bottles is linked to the "haint blue" spirit specifically. Glass bottle trees have become a popular garden decoration throughout the South and Southwest

[melaninmoodboards]

Gullah Geechee: After the Civil War, former slaves across the South left the region to escape white terrorism. But along the Carolina coast, many remained. They claimed land from abandoned plantations, opened businesses during Reconstruction and, as Jim Crow laws took hold, increasingly isolated themselves in communities along the coastal corridor, especially on sea islands where their descendants settled for generations. They farmed collards, lettuce, tomatoes and butter peas; fished for oysters, shrimp and sea bass; and raised hogs and chickens. Their relative isolation from white society left intact much of the traditional culture that had developed during slavery and harks back to African and Caribbean roots.

Gullah communities built wooden one-room praise houses to worship with energetic singing and shouts. Many painted their shutters and porches a shade known as 'haint' blue to ward off angry dead spirits. The Gullah culture can be seen in the sweet-grass baskets some still weave on the sidewalks of Charleston or in the creativity and adaptability of Gullah soul food that incorporates the ingredients available to cooks during slavery — rice, seafood, sweet potatoes, grits, local vegetables and basic spices. More than anything else, Gullah people share a distinct dialect, a creole language that has similarities to some West African languages melded with English to create a quick-paced, easily flowing language.

[myhauntedsalem]

Bottle Trees

Superstitions of bottle trees as a way to ward off ghosts and evil spirits is said to have come to this country from Africa. The slave trade also brought beliefs from the Congo to the United States and Europe – the hanging of bottles outside of homes being just one example. Passing down from generation to generation, bottle collectors stateside carried on this tradition by displaying their collection of beautifully-colored glass while continuing to believe in their power as talismans capable of repelling the worst of specters. Today, many of these bottles are now antiques, so they are definitely something interesting to observe.

How is a bottle tree supposed to keep away ghosts and spirits? Legend has it that during the day, the sun shining through different hues of glass lures ghosts through bedazzling colors. Once they are within the bottles, some say they are trapped for eternity (or until the bottle is broken).