German Traditions of the Spider Christmas Tree Ornament

By Rebecca MacLary

The history of the Christmas tree as we know it today is said to have started in Germany.  There is conflicting information about its origins but most agree that the first decorated Christmas tree was erected some time in the 15th or 16th century century.  Traditions have evolved since then and many different cultures have their own customs.  One fascinating Christmas tree tradition is the German tradition of the spider ornament.

Many years ago, on Christmas Eve, the woman of the house tidied her home in preparation of the upcoming festivities.  She swept the house spotless, and all of the spiders ran and hid in the attic.  The family erected their Christmas tree and spent the evening decorating it.  When the adornment was complete, the family went to bed while the woman stayed up to do more cleaning.  She was the last to go to bed.

In the middle of the night, the spiders crept out from the attic and went back to the living room.  Behold, there was a beautiful Christmas tree!  The spiders leaped from branch to branch in joy, inspecting the tree and all its ornaments.  The spiders´ activity covered the tree in a thick gray web, hiding all the ornaments.

Weihnachtsmann, or Father Christmas, arrived soon after, and saw what the spiders had done.  He was pleased that the spiders had so enjoyed themselves, but knew the family would be heartbroken to come down to a tree covered in thick spider webs.  Father Christmas touched the webs, and they magically turned into strands of silver and gold. 

When the family came downstairs in the morning, they gasped with surprise.  The woman of the house knew that the new decorations were a Christmas miracle.  They so enjoyed the look of the tree, they adopted the tradition of adorning Christmas trees with tinsel.  Some families even began the custom of placing a small spider ornament hidden somewhere among the branches.

Many cultures follow the custom of decorating a Christmas tree for the Yuletide season.  Many households, in Germany and elsewhere, also hang a spider ornament from the branches to represent that Christmas miracle from long ago.  Decorate your tree with tinsel, and remember the story of its origin.

Win a Rosetta Stone course!

Now is the perfect time to give your child the gift of possibilities for the holidays with Rosetta Stone Homeschool — and you can WIN a Level 1 Homeschool program, language of your choice (valued at $249)!

Right now Rosetta Stone is having a special Holiday promotion on our Homeschool Edition program and we’d like you to help spread the word! Everyone can save up to $150 on Rosetta Stone Homeschool by visiting our website at http://www.RosettaStone.com/hsw1110.

By helping us spread the word you can win a Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition Level 1 program, language of your choice, valued at $249.

This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever!

Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this program, copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR post about this contest on your facebook page. Then go to the original page at

http://www.othersuchhappenings.com/2010/12/rosetta-stone-giveaway-yay.html

and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post, and good luck!

***

***Open to U.S. Residents ONLY.