The history of spiders at Christmas is a lesser-known folk tale attributed to various European countries, but most often Germany and Ukraine. As most folk stories are culturally adapted to their audience as their popularity spreads, one common variation of the story tells of a widowed mother who was very poor. Too poor to decorate her Christmas tree; so, spiders spin beautiful webs on the branches of the evergreen. On Christmas morning, the mother and her children opened the curtains, and sunlight struck the webs on the tree, turning them to silver and gold (this tale is sometimes attributed to the origin of tinsel). The family was blessed with good fortune from that moment forward. Other tellings of the tale say Santa Claus or Jesus were responsible for the transformation of the webs so that the spiders who made home in the sparse tree would not upset the mother upon discovery.
No matter the intended cultural take-away of the tale, its common theme is the likening of spiders to good luck, and it is still common to find spider ornaments upon Christmas trees in Europe, especially in the Ukranian region.
As a Braucher, I see the humbleness of the season. The true meaning of togetherness and faith, with connection to God through nature; a sparse evergreen and a spider, who is symbolically a Creator, a weaver who makes something from seemingly nothing but her own faith and internal grit. The poor mother, through her faith and internal grit, received good fortune from her connection to God, through nature, and Jesus or Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) delivered through the medium of nature, the pathway to God.
This is the time of year to leave behind our misfortunes and move forward with great faith.
by Gretchen Swank; 12/15/2022; Photo by Gretchen Swank
Resources: Murtaugh, T. (11/10/21). This Is What It Means When You See a Spider Ornament On a Christmas Tree. Country Living. https://www.countryliving.com/life/g5065/christmas-spider-tradition/
*Note: I had no photo of a spider AND my Christmas tree; however, I did have a photo of my tree and one of my black cats, which I figured was as close to the spider as I was going to get since both are associated more with Halloween than they are Christmas.
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