I am quoting below from the Nordic Needle Newsletter, and hope you will follow the link to learn more from this excellent article!
"Spiders and their webs have been a popular motif for crazy quilts. But I wanted to know why we would dedicate time and materials to adding a creature that makes us shudder. Turns out there is a lot of folklore surrounding the spider. They are thought to bring good luck to weavers and spinners. Housewives often took great care to move a spider outside rather than kill it. If they killed it superstition said their house would never be clean. Spiders are thought to bring wealth to a family, perhaps thinking good fortune would become entangled in the web. Spider-Woman is a major goddess of the Pueblo Indians while Arachne existed in Greco-roman myth. She was a beautiful woman who wove flawless fabric over which there was a confrontation with the Goddess Athene. A religious legend is that a small spider spun a web over the cave entrance where baby Jesus was hiding to keep him from Herod's troops. Even postcards from the Victorian era reflected the theme of spiders bringing good luck."
So in essence, it's the killing of the spiders that's making my house dirty. Hmmm - I think I can use this one to my advantage!!
ReplyDeleteNot if you had seen the size of the spider that invaded my bedroom last week and terrorised me for over 5 hours - nicknamed Usain Bolt for the speed it was getting around at! Shuddering just thinking about it! Hugs, Ally xxx
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