# The Legend of the Christmas Spider **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 23, 2017, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117 "2017-12-23T04:56:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/1 "2017-12-23T04:56:51Z")
I was at a holiday craft fair last week and I came across a table full of [Christmas spiders](https://photos.app.goo.gl/42GaHeEaSAKL61k32). I had never heard of them but I guess they’re a thing in Eastern Europe. In the legend a miracle turns spiderwebs into silver and gold, making the spider a holiday hero of sorts. From the [wiki article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Christmas_Spider): > [@](#): > > _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._ I like spiders as much as the next person, but I can do without them crawling around on my Christmas tree. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/2 "2017-12-23T05:04:31Z")
I am totally grossed out! Sweet dreams for me! How do you think Rankin/Bass missed this one? Is there a legend of the Christmas Vampire Bat? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/3 "2017-12-23T05:56:55Z")
About as dumb as the Christmas pickle. Spiders…eek!! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/4 "2017-12-23T06:00:37Z")
I love spiders. I’m on board with this one. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/5 "2017-12-23T06:04:53Z")
A lady selling beaded spiders on a craft stall told my mum this story and persuaded her to buy one for me about 12 years ago, and it has graced my tree ever since - but I’d never heard the story again until a Facebook post about 3 hours ago, and now this. So there you go. Not just made up by a beaded spider maker at the local craft market - an actual thing. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/6 "2017-12-23T06:44:36Z")
I love spiders! I have never heard this legend before, but I think it’s neat. I am going to have to get myself a Christmas spider for next year. ---
**Author:** ![Sveltington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@Sveltington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sveltington)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/7 "2017-12-23T15:06:20Z")
Every year when we had a real tree there would be a few spiders on it; but they NEVER did any fancy web work.☹ ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/8 "2017-12-23T20:33:43Z")
Obligatory [link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=383776). In all seriousness, I like spiders and I think the ornaments are cute. I also have fond memories of reading [this](http://www.lynnekelly.com.au/Lynne_Kelly/Spiders.html) book while on Jury Duty. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/9 "2017-12-23T20:48:26Z")
I found a Black Widow in the box we store the fake tree in one year. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/10 "2017-12-23T20:50:19Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I found a Black Widow in the box we store the fake tree in one year. Did it die before it could pay up? I might have maybe killed it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/11 "2017-12-23T20:57:33Z")
When I was a kid, one of the networks (this was back when there were only three) ran a week of animated Christmas stories in the lead up to the holiday. The two I remember were the spider, and one about a gilded statue of a prince that convinces a sparrow to take flakes of gilt off of him and deliver it to his needy subjects, whom he had neglected in real life. About a year later, at a Christmas store with my mom, I found a spiderweb ornament covered in gold glitter. [Some 35+ years later, it’s still on my tree.](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213325565127003&set=a.4456917434426.163615.1634327150&type=3&theater) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/12 "2017-12-23T21:05:03Z")
My mom has a spider ornament for her tree, but it’s made from a couple of jingle bells, with unadorned wire for legs. Those beaded ones are beautiful. Of course, Mom and I also both have plenty of real spiders in our homes, too, but you don’t see too many of them this time of year. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/13 "2017-12-23T22:00:51Z")
I read a legend in which Joseph and Mary and Jesus were being hunted by soldiers on their Flight into Egypt. They hid in a cave. That night a spider spun a web covering the cave’s opening. The soldiers showed up, saw the web, and said, “Obviously nobody’s hiding in that cave, since no web could’ve been spun in a night.” The soldiers left, and Jesus blessed the spider. Dewdrops on the web glowed. Here’s a version: [Homily Holy Family: Legend of Spider; Refugees; Anti-Semitism before Christian Era](http://stmaryvalleybloom.org/homilyforholyfamily10.html) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-legend-of-the-christmas-spider/805117/14 "2017-12-23T23:32:10Z")
Today’s [Scandinavia and the World](https://satwcomic.com/merry-ukrainian-christmas) comic is about this very thing. I’d never heard of it before reading the comic, and now this thread. I’m a little dubious about the tinsel=spiderwebs connection; I’ve always thought it was representative of icicles, or just for catching and scattering light to produce a “twinkle” effect.