Legend of Christmas Spider
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this handmade spider was a gift several years ago. it now has its own tree. (charlotte ekker wiggins photo)
Legend of the Christmas Spider
Do you still add tinsel to your Christmas tree?
We did years ago; that is, until one of our cats decided to eat it and the vet recommended keeping tinsel out of their reach.
Christmas tree tinsel ties back to an Eastern European folktale, most prevalent in Western Ukraine.
Christmas Spider Legend
According to Wikipedia, a poor but hardworking widow once lived in a small hut with her children.
One summer day, a pine cone fell on the earthen floor of the hut and took root. The widow's children cared for the tree, excited at the prospect of having a Christmas tree by winter.
The tree grew, but when Christmas Eve arrived, they could not afford to decorate it. The children sadly went to bed and fell asleep.
Early the next morning, they woke up and saw the tree covered with cobwebs. When they opened the windows, the first rays of sunlight touched the webs and turned them into gold and silver. The widow and her children were overjoyed. From then on, they never lived in poverty again.
There are some variations that tell the story from the perspective of the spiders who wished to see the Christmas tree.
in sunlight, tinsel looks very similar to spider webs. (charlotte ekker wiggins photo)
Christmas Spider Version
According to Southern Living Magazine, another version shared by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension focuses on two mothers, one a spider and the other a peasant. They both give to the other, with the peasant woman allowing the spider and her family to live among the branches of their Christmas tree. The mama spider, in turn, repays the favor by decorating the tree with gorgeous, shimmering webs that cover the branches.
A second version starts with a tree covered in spider webs. When Santa dropped by to scatter gifts for the children, he saw the tree covered in gray webs left by happy spiders who had traveled down from the dusty attic to behold the spruce. Weaving their webs, they had left a trail of attic dust with each strand of their web. Santa turned the once gray webs into glorious silver strands of tinsel.
Christmas Spider Legend Origin
The origins of the folk tale are unknown, but it is believed to have come from either Germany or Ukraine.
In Germany, Poland, and Ukraine, finding a spider or a spider's web on a Christmas tree is considered good luck.
Ukrainians also create small Christmas tree ornaments in the shape of a spider (known as pavuchky, literally "little spiders"), usually made of paper and wire. They also decorate Christmas trees with artificial spider webs, which is the origin of using tinsel.
