I was immediately drawn to the small tree that had blue, red, and orange bottles hanging on the limbs outside of the Gullah Geechee Museum. Our tour in Hilton Head, South Carolina, often evoked musings about the symbolic nature of such sights.  Glass often symbolizes something having the ability to be so strong and yet simultaneously easily broken. Blue often represents something as beautiful as the sky and the sea, but simultaneously a word often associated with sadness and depression. Red often depicts both anger and love. Orange is often associated with the fall season, denoting changes to come. I felt the same sense of multiple identities with this tree covered in glass. Something as beautiful as a tree that grew naturally from the earth. These bottles are manmade but still have the ability to evoke beauty. The sun’s reflection in each bottle created a beautiful dance of light to the rhythm of the calm breeze that blew across the Gullah Geechee lands.  

I knew hanging bottles from a tree had to be some sort of Southern tradition, so I embarked further on my journey to find meaning, much like I had done in the many things I encountered on these sacred lands. 

“According to stories passed down through generations, the bottles were hung upside down to entice the curiosity of evil spirits. Drawn by the rich, cobalt color, the spirits would enter the bottles and become trapped [and protect their homes].” (SouthCarolinaLowCountry.com).

Stories…generations…curiosity…spirits…trapped…home.

These words had my mind spinning down a rabbit hole of thoughts that seemed random and chaotic.

I thought of stories, like the ones I uncovered from my past, present, and future…trapped inside a mind full of a million thoughts, all futilely fighting to be at the forefront of importance.

I thought of generations upon generations of my personal enslaved, native, and colonized heritage: African identity, Indigenous identity, some unknown White colonizer’s identity.

I thought of curiosity in my journey to learn about this Gullah Geechee history, culture, language, and lands.

I thought of spirits, both of good and evil, both internal and external, both those invited to stay, and those desperately attempting to be expelled.

I thought of home: the Gullah Geechee home that has been stolen by so many “outsiders” and “outliers.”.

I was trapped in my mind’s chaos, fighting to find my way back to the purpose of my musings, spurred again by the sight of so much that inspired my attempt to chronicle this impactful journey.

There were blue bottles that hung from a small tree outside of the Gullah Geechee Museum in Hilton Head, South Carolina. I had never seen anything like this before and might not ever again. There was a tree, and there was glass, but both represented so much more. They each held their own identities, and yet somehow, in my mind, they had morphed into one in the same. I knew they were separate beings. I knew one thing had nothing to do with the other. I knew it made no sense. But somehow, still, in my mind, I would forever remember them as the “trees made of glass.”.