The Legend of the Christmas Spider

Some of our favorite, and most popular, Christmas kits are our christmas spiders but they’re also a bit puzzling. They often induce a confused face followed by the questions, “but why would you put a spider on your Christmas tree?” and “what does a spider have to do with Christmas?” Well, the Christmas spider actually originates from a really cute Eastern European (mostly from Germany & the Ukraine) folktale that explains the beginning of tinsel.

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Here is the Legend of the Christmas Spider:.

A long, long time ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year … Christmas Day. Not a speck of dust was left anywhere. Even the little spiders had been banished from their cozy corner high up on the ceiling. To avoid the housewife’s busy cleaning, they finally fled to the farthest corner of the forgotten attic.

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Finally, it was Christmas Eve. The tree was decorated and the children delighted. But the poor spiders were frantic, for they could not see the tree, nor be present for the magic of the season. The oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could wait until everyone had gone to bed and then sneak through the crack in the door to see the wonders of the tree. The little spiders silently and carefully came down out of their attic corner and across the floor to wait in the crack on the threshold.

Pretty soon all was quiet, so the spiders quickly crept into the room. The tree towered so high that they couldn’t see the ornaments on top. In fact, the little spiders’ eyes were so small that they could only see one ornament at a time. They all scurried up the trunk, out along each branch, filled with a happy wonder at the glittering beauty. The spiders loved the Christmas tree. All night long, they danced in the branches, and every place they went left a fine trail of gray web. When at last they had inspected every bit of the Christmas tree, it was shrouded in the delicate gray of spider webs.

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When Santa arrived, he smiled as he thought of the happy spiders seeing the tree and how much they liked it. But he also thought of how sad the little mother would be over the cobweb-covered tree. He reached out his hand and touched the lovely webs. Immediately, all the webs started to sparkle and shine turning into shimmering, sparkling silver and gold. The tree glistened in greater beauty than ever before!

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According to legend, ever since this happened, people have hung tinsel on their Christmas trees. It has also become a tradition to have a special spider ornament somewhere on your Christmas tree, in honor of those spiders from so long ago. For the magic of Christmas belongs to everyone, even the tiniest spiders among us.

Merry Christmas & Happy Beading!!