Editing Textiles in folklore (section)

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[[File:Elizabeth of Romania pic.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A royal portrait employing strong mythic overtones: [[Elisabeth of Wied|Queen Elisabeth of Romania]], born a German princess, adopts the national costume of Romania, with distaff and spindle.]]
Mention of '''textiles in folklore''' is ancient, and its lost mythic lore probably accompanied the early spread of this art. Textiles have also been associated in several cultures with [[Cultural depictions of spiders|spiders in mythology]].

Weaving begins with [[Spinning (textiles)|spinning]]. Until the [[spinning wheel]] was invented in the 14th century, all spinning was done with [[distaff]] and [[Spindle (textiles)|spindle]]. In English the "distaff side"  indicates relatives through one's mother, and thereby denotes a woman's role in the household economy. In Scandinavia, the stars of [[Orion (constellation)|Orion's belt]] are known as ''Friggjar rockr'', "Frigg’s distaff".

The spindle, essential to the weaving art, is recognizable as an emblem of security and settled times in a ruler's eighth-century BCE inscription at [[Karatepe]]:
<blockquote>"In those places which were formerly feared, where a man fears... to go on the road, in my days even women walked with spindles"</blockquote>

In the adjacent region of North [[Syria]], historian [[Robin Lane Fox]] remarks [[funerary]] [[stelae]] showing men holding cups as if feasting and women seated facing them and holding spindles.<ref>Quoted and noted in Fox, Robin Lane (2008). ''[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780679763864 Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer]''. Vintage Books. p. 77. {{ISBN|978-0-679-76386-4}}</ref>