The Legend of the Christmas Spider

It’s Christmas week, Tri-County Pest Control fans!  That being said, we would like to share with you today one of our favorite tales about the holiday season in the hopes that it’ll show you that while some bugs can be creepy, most do not wish you harm.  Keep on reading to hear about the Legend of the Christmas Spider!

Here’s the scene: It’s Christmas Eve in Eastern Europe.  A poor, widowed mother and her children are preparing for Christmas day, using what little that they have to decorate the tree.  The mother tries to make the best of the situation, but the children are upset that they don’t have much to put on the tree.

A spider, who is living in the rafters, overhears this conversation and—wanting to spread a bit of holiday joy—decides to take it upon himself to decorate the tree for the family.  When everyone is fast asleep in the early morning hours of Christmas Day, he drops down from the ceiling and begins to weave his web all around the tree, making sure that every branch is covered.  After a few hours, the spider surveys his work, and upon seeing that the tree is fully spun with his web, he is satisfied and climbs back to the ceiling to watch the reaction of the children in the morning.

When dawn comes, the children wake and see to their surprise that the tree is decorated with the spider’s web.  As a ray of light pierces through the window, the webs turn into gold and silver! The children and their mother are extremely overjoyed, and thanks to the spider’s deed, never have to live in poverty again.

Thus, the tradition of putting tinsel on Christmas trees was born!  This story not only inspired the holiday tradition of tinsel on trees, but also the belief that spiders bring luck with them.  To this day, many trees in Eastern Europe have spider ornaments on them to bring luck for the coming year, continuing the tradition of accepting spiders instead of fearing them.

From all of us at Tri-County Pest Control, we wish you and yours the happiest of holidays!