... It was a bit rainy once everyone got going, so we explored a bit. First stop was the Serpentarium, where the girls always choose their souvenirs. This year it was a horseshoe crab & sea bass for Leia and a sting ray & alligator for Annie. Then we found "the tree" and "the mattress," both Edisto traditions. No one knows who decorates the tree (which this year was outfitted in beach gear). The mattress was just put up by a family ... until they got tired of tourists stopping. This is the first year it was back up in full form! Shana says that "it used to actually be just an old nasty mattress that they had hanging from the tree. It was such an iconic symbol. However, it was definitely a poverty-stricken piece of furniture and not something they decorated for different occasions. There used to be paintings and photographs made of the old mattress hanging from ropes in the tree with little black children on it. I suspect the island is trying to bring back some of its old traditions that were pulled away. The mattress got gone the second year Chris and I lived down there. The tree that is decorated was always a secret and we never knew who was decorating it. However that also got gone the second year we were down there and just got brought back in the last couple of years.it would be really cool if you could find an original picture of the mattress swings. That's what it was known as. It never had any sheets or anything on it and it was left out in the rain. You can imagine it was quite nasty :-)it was also in some peoples yard so I think they get tired of tourists stopping and took it down finally. Notice it says $10 per picture." The last picture is an old one Shana sent me ... for comparison. :-)
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