Spanish Moss in Culture and Folklore
Due to its propensity for growing in humid southern locales like Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Eastern North Carolina, southeastern Virginia, South Carolina, east and south Texas, and Alabama, the plant is often associated with Southern Gothic imagery.
In the southeastern United States, the following tale is told:
- 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 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.
In Hawaii, Spanish moss is typically referred to as ʻUmiʻumi-o-Dole, named for Governor Sanford B. Dole's beard. It was introduced to Hawaii in the 19th century, and became a popular ornamental and lei plant. Recently it is occasionally called "Pele's hair" after Pele the Hawaiian goddess. The term "Pele's hair" usually refers to a type of filamentous volcanic glass.
Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot wrote a ballad entitled "Spanish Moss".
American Punk Rock band Against Me! has a song titled "Spanish Moss" on their 2010 album White Crosses. "Look into the Spanish moss. Let your mind conjure up old ghosts. Ride your bike through lost Florida streets. Everything we’ve said and done, can be so easily forgotten. You can always change who you are."
American country music singer Brad Paisley uses the phrase 'Spanish Moss' in the chorus of his hit song 'American Saturday Night' (2010), and American country music singer Dierks Bentley refers to it in the first verse of his song 'Every Mile a Memory'.
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