Long, long ago, on one Christmas Eve, the spiders were banished from
homes while the houses were cleaned for Christmas and their webs were
broken. They just managed to survive and had to move to the farthest
corner of the attic for the time being. However, some of the young
spiders longed to see the decorated Christmas trees and the little
Christ child that came to bless the homes in the midnight. The elders
tried to make them understand that they were not allowed inside the
rooms but the young spiders were quite curious and adamant. Finally, the
oldest and wisest spider came up with a solution and suggested that in
the night, when everybody went to bed, perhaps they could creep out of
their corners and get a closer look of the magical Christmas tree.
Even the adult spiders felt the thrill of this once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for them and in midnight, when the house of a noble family
was dark and silent and everybody was fast asleep, spiders crept out of
their hiding place and slowly reached the Christmas tree. They were so
captivated by the ethereal beauty that they spent all night in the tree,
crawling up and down and examining its beautiful ornaments. They could
not curb their urge to weave pretty and delicate spider webs all over
the tree as they danced on its branches. In the wee hours of the
morning, the little Christ child came to bless the house. He was
surprised to find little spiders and their webs on the tree.
He knew that every creature was made by God and yet he knew how the
mother who had worked hard all day to make everything perfect would be
dismayed to find the spider webs on its tree. Thus, with a heart full of
love and a lovely bewitching smile on his lips, the Christ child gently
touched the spider webs and set them sparkling and shining in silver and
golden colors that made the Christmas tree look even more beautiful than
before. It is said that this is how tinsel was introduced to decorate
Christmas trees. Some people also hang a plastic spider in remembrance
of the devoted little spiders who worked hard that Christmas Eve.
Legend of the Christmas Spider