🕷The Legend of the Christmas Spider🕷 (Patreon)

Have you heard the Legend of the Christmas Spider? This may be a legend that not many people are familiar with, including myself! What do you think of it? Sources are listed below for resources!

While we may think of spiders as a symbol specific to Halloween, the eight-legged creatures actually come into play as Christmas symbols. When we reported on the meaning of the pickle ornament, some readers shared that they also practice the tradition of the Christmas spider, and we were curious to learn more.

Another folk tale from Europe, the history of spiders at Christmastime has been attributed to various countries, most often Ukraine and Germany. In one version of the story, a widowed mother is too poor to decorate her Christmas tree, so friendly spiders spin elaborate webs on the evergreen. When the mother and her family wake on Christmas morning, they open the curtains and sunlight hits the webs, turning them silver and gold (this tale is sometimes said to be the origin of tinsel). The family had good fortune from then on. Other iterations claim it was Santa Claus or Jesus himself who transformed the webs so that they wouldn't upset the mother.

It's likely the legend is linked to the idea that spiders are lucky, but whatever the real reason, several sources, including the Evening Standard, report that Ukrainians decorate their Christmas trees with spider-shaped ornaments (often made of beautiful beads) to this day. Shop these striking spider ornaments to start the tradition in your own home this year.

Once upon a time, long ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year.... The day on which the Christ child came to bless the house. Not a speck of dust was left. Even the spiders had been banished from their cozy corner in the ceiling to avoid the housewife's busy cleaning. They finally fled to the farthest corner of the attic.

T'was the Christmas eve at last! The tree was decorated and waiting for the children to see it. But the poor spiders were frantic, for they could not see the tree, nor be present for the Christ child's visit. But the oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could peep through the crack in the door to see him. Silently they crept out of their attic, down the stairs, and across the floor to wait in the crack in the threshold. Suddenly, the door opened a wee bit and quickly the spiders scurried into the room. They must see the tree closely, since their eyes weren't accustomed to the brightness of the room... so the crept all over the tree, up and down, over every branch and twig and saw every one of the pretty things. At last they satisfied themselves completely of the Christmas tree beauty.

But alas!! Everywhere they went they had left their webs, and when the little Christ child came to bless the house he was dismayed. He loved the little spiders, for they were God's creatures too, but he knew the mother, who had trimmed the tree for the little children, wouldn't feel the same, so He touched the webs and they all turned to sparkling, shimmering, silver and gold!

Ever since that time, we have hung tinsel on our christmas trees, and according to the legend, it has been a custom to include a spider among the decorations on the tree.

Sources:

https://www.bhg.com/christmas/ornaments/christmas-tree-ornaments/spider-christmas-ornament/

http://www.kraftmstr.com/christmas/books/spider.html

https://www.countryliving.com/life/g5065/christmas-spider-tradition/