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| The Cranky Queen's Bottle Tree |
Southerners are very familiar with the
bottle trees that scatter the landscape along the bayous of Louisiana, swampy areas of Mississippi, & back roads of Alabama.
Bottle trees were a colorful folk tradition with the "soul" purpose of scaring off or trapping evil spirits.
Original
bottle trees were made from trees that were either dead or had all the foliage stripped from the branches to place the bottles on. It was said that the spirits became mesmerized by the dancing reflections in the sun, causing them to be drawn into the bottles and trapped for all eternity!
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| Baton Rouge, LA ~ Bottle Tree |
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| Pelham, AL ~ Bottle Tree |
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| Birmingham, AL ~ Bottle Tree |
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| Petals from the Past Bottle Tree ~ Jemison, AL |
Growing up in a little bayou town in Louisiana, I was accustomed to seeing bottle trees in yards, & was always cautious to ride my bike swiftly by when passing a home guarded by this mysterious yard art. So once I found out that Birmingham. AL was the home of a restaurant called
"The Bottle Tree Cafe", I convinced the Cranky King to tag along
(for protection of any escaped spirits, of course!)
The food was wonderful & the decor...worth the visit!
Examples of the bottle trees at
The Bottle Tree Cafe located in Birmingham, AL
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| This Bottle Tree "freaked" the Cranky King out a little bit @ The Bottle Tree Cafe |
Today, most bottle trees are made from re-barb metal welded in various shapes & styles. They have become quite the yard art for those wanting to recycle bottles & contribute to this dying Southern tradition.
According to legends, the glass bottle trees originated in Northern Africa during a period when superstitious people believed that a genii could be captured in a glass bottle. This practice was taken to North America, particularly in the South, by African slaves.
The
Cranky Queen could have filled many bottle trees with the empty wine bottles from her love of wine...Let's put it this way, I need a little "whine" with my wine...
STAY CALM & DRINK MORE WINE!
