As I sit here, wondering what to blog about, I am staring at a tree covered in Spanish Moss that is outside the window. Spanish moss is the long, stringy green moss that hangs down from the branches of trees all over the world. Everytime I see spanish moss I am reminded of the story my grandmother told me about its origins...
Once upon a time there was a beautiful Spanish maiden, I'll call her Amalia. This girl was the daughter of a very rich man who thought only of becoming an even richer man. Amalia knew her father had plans to marry her off to one of his old rich friends. However, she was maddly in love with her childhood friend, Gonzalo. Gonzalo was the son of her mother's seimstress. He had little money and knew that Amalia's father would never let them marry. Finally the day came when Amalia's father told her that she must marry his old friend and go to live with him. Amalia and Gonzalo were determinded not to let this happen. The two lovebirds sat and talked for a long time about how they could run away together and hide from the old man. Unfortunately, the old man happened to overhear their conversation an vowed to stop them. Amalia's father was outraged when his friend told him of the young lovers plan. So, he granted his friend permission to take his daughter far away from their village and Gonzalo (for a price, of course). The next day Amalia woke up to find that her belongings were being packed into the old man's coach, she was to leave for a far away land that day! Quickly, she wrote Gonzalo a note, and tucked it away in his mother's sewing basket. She knew her mother's seimstrss would give the note to Gonzalo and he'd come looking for her. In her note she vowed to snip locks of her hair and tie them to the branches of the trees she passed, leaving a trail to where she would be. Did Gonzalo find Amalia? No one knows. However, according to the legend, when you see spainish moss hanging from a tree's branches- you are following the path of the maiden just as Gonzalo did so many years ago.
The end.
