Editing Textiles in folklore

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{{More citations needed|date=July 2008}}
[[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>

==Egypt==
In pre-Dynastic Egypt, ''nt'' ([[Neith]]) was already the goddess of weaving (and a mighty aid in war as well). She protected the Red Crown of Lower Egypt before the two kingdoms were merged, and in Dynastic times she was known as the most ancient one, to whom the other gods went for wisdom.  According to E. A. Wallis Budge (''The Gods of the Egyptians'') the root of the word for ''weaving'' and also for ''being'' are the same: ''nnt''.

[[Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)]] refers to numerous Biblical references to weaving:

{{quotation|Weaving was an art practised in very early times ({{bibleverse||Ex|35:35|NIV}}). The Egyptians were specially skilled in it ({{bibleverse||Isa|19:9|NIV}}; {{bibleverse||Ezek|27:7|NIV}}), and some have regarded them as its inventors.<br /><br />In the wilderness, the Hebrews practised weaving ({{bibleverse||Ex|26:1|NIV}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Ex|26:8|NIV}}; {{bibleverse-nb||Ex|28:4|NIV}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Ex|28:39|NIV}}; {{bibleverse||Lev|13:47|NIV}}). It is referred to subsequently as specially the women's work ({{bibleverse|2|Kings|23:7|NIV}}; {{bibleverse||Prov|31:13|NIV}}, 24). No mention of the loom is found in Scripture, but we read of the "shuttle" ({{bibleverse||Job|7:6|NIV}}), "the pin" of the beam ({{bibleverse||Judg|16:14|NIV}}), "the web" (13, 14), and "the beam" ({{bibleverse|1|Sam|17:7|NIV}}; {{bibleverse|2|Sam|21:19|NIV}}}}

==Greece==
In Greek mythology, the [[Moirai]] (the "Fates") are the three [[crone]]s who control [[destiny]], by spinning the thread of life on the distaff. [[Ariadne]], princess of Minoan Crete and later the wife of the god [[Dionysus]], possessed the spun thread that led [[Theseus]] to the center of the [[labyrinth]] and safely out again.

Among the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympian]]s, the weaver goddess is [[Athena]], who, despite her role, was bested by her acolyte [[Arachne]], whom Athena in retribution turned into a weaving spider.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Athena-Greek-mythology|title=Athena {{!}} Greek mythology|access-date=2016-09-29}}</ref> The daughters of Minyas, [[Alcithoe]], [[Leuconoe]] and their sister, defied [[Dionysus]] and honored Athena in their weaving instead of joining his festival. A woven [[peplos]], laid upon the knees of the goddess's iconic image, was central to festivals honoring both Athena at Athens, and [[Hera]].

In Homer's legend of the [[Odyssey]], [[Penelope]] the faithful wife of [[Odysseus]] was a weaver, weaving her design for a shroud by day, but unravelling it again at night, to keep her suitors from claiming her during the long years while Odysseus was away; Penelope's weaving is sometimes compared to that of the two weaving enchantresses in the ''Odyssey'', [[Circe]] and [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]]. [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] is at her loom in the ''[[Iliad]]'' to illustrate her discipline, work ethic, and attention to detail.

[[Homer]] dwells upon the supernatural quality of the weaving in the robes of goddesses.

In Roman literature, [[Ovid]] in his ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' (VI, 575–587) recounts the terrible tale of [[Philomela (princess of Athens)|Philomela]], who was raped and her tongue cut out so that she could not tell about her violation, her loom becomes her voice, and the story is told in the design, so that her sister [[Philomela (princess of Athens)|Procne]] may understand and the women may take their revenge.  The understanding in the Philomela myth that pattern and design convey myth and ritual has been of great use to modern mythographers: [[Jane Ellen Harrison]] led the way, interpreting the more permanent patterns of vase painting, since the patterned textiles had not survived.

==Germanic==
For the [[Norse paganism|Norse]] peoples, [[Frigg]] is a goddess associated with weaving. The Old Norse [[Darraðarljóð]], quoted in [[Njals Saga]], gives a detailed description of [[valkyrie]]s as women weaving on a loom, with severed heads for weights, arrows for shuttles, and human gut for the warp, singing an exultant song of carnage. Ritually deposited spindles and loom parts were deposited with the [[Pre-Roman Iron Age]] [[Dejbjerg wagon]], a composite of two wagons found ritually deposited in a peat bog in Dejbjerg, Jutland,<ref>Found in the 1880s; noted by Grigsby, John (2005). ''Beowulf and Grendel: the Truth behind England's Oldest Myth''. Watkins. p. 57, 113f. {{ISBN|1-84293-153-9}}. See discussion of the ritual wagons in Danish bogs in Glob, Peter Vilhelm & [[Rupert Bruce-Mitford|Bruce-Mitford, Rupert]] (transl.) (1988). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=5e0tkA6gGT8C The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved]''. New York Review. pp. 166-71. {{ISBN|1-59017-090-3}}.</ref> and are to be associated with the wagon-goddess.

In Germanic later mythology, [[Holda]] (Frau Holle) and [[Perchta]] (Frau Perchta, Berchta, Bertha) were both known as goddesses who oversaw spinning and weaving. They had many names.

[[Holda]], whose patronage extends outward to control of the weather, and source of women's fertility, and the protector of unborn children, is the patron of spinners, rewarding the industrious and punishing the idle. Holda taught the secret of making [[linen]] from [[flax]]. An account of Holda was collected by the [[Brothers Grimm]], as the [[fairy tale]] "[[Holda|Frau Holda]]". Another of the Grimm tales, "[[Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle]]", which embeds social conditioning in fairy tale with mythic resonances, rewards the industrious spinner with the fulfillment of her mantra:
:''"Spindle, my spindle, haste, haste thee away,''
:''and here to my house bring the wooer, I pray."''

::''"Spindel, Spindel, geh' du aus,''
::''bring den Freier in mein Haus.''"

This tale recounts how the magic spindle, flying out of the girl's hand, flew away, unravelling behind it a thread, which the prince followed, as [[Theseus]] followed the thread of [[Ariadne]], to find what he was seeking: a bride "who is the poorest, and at the same time the richest". He arrives to find her simple village cottage magnificently caparisoned by the magically aided products of spindle, shuttle and needle.

[[Jacob Grimm]] reported the superstition "if, while riding a horse overland, a man should come upon a woman spinning, then that is a very bad sign; he should turn around and take another way." (''Deutsche Mythologie'' 1835, v3.135)

==Celts==

The goddess [[Brigantia (goddess)|Brigantia]], due to her identification with the Roman [[Minerva]], may have also been considered, along with her other traits, to be a weaving deity.

==French==
Weavers had a repertory of tales: in the 15th century [[Jean d'Arras]], a Northern French storyteller (''[[trouvere]]''), assembled a collection of stories entitled ''[[The Distaff Gospels|Les Évangiles des Quenouilles]]'' ("Spinners' Tales"). Its [[frame story]] is that these are narrated among a group of ladies at their spinning.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mDX2_0Qb03EC&q=jean%2520d%27arras%2520Les%2520%25C3%2589vangiles%2520des%2520Quenouilles&pg=PA4|title=The Distaff Gospels: A First Modern English Edition of Les Évangiles des Quenouilles|last1=Jeay|first1=Madeleine|last2=Garay|first2=Kathleen|date=2006-01-01|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=9781551115603|language=en}}</ref>

==Baltic==
In Baltic myth, [[Saulė|Saule]] is the life-affirming sun goddess, whose numinous presence is signed by a wheel or a rosette. She spins the sunbeams. The Baltic connection between the sun and spinning is as old as spindles of the sun-stone, [[amber]], that have been uncovered in burial mounds. Baltic legends as told have absorbed many images from Christianity and Greek myth that are not easy to disentangle.

==Finnish==
The Finnish epic, the ''[[Kalevala]]'', has many references to spinning and weaving goddesses.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kalevala|title=Kalevala {{!}} Finnish literature|access-date=2016-09-29}}</ref>

[[File:Hunterian Psalter c. 1170 Eve spinning.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Eve spinning, from the [[Hunterian Psalter]], English, ca 1170]]

==Later European folklore==
"When Adam delved and Eve span..." runs the rhyme; though the tradition that [[Eve]] [[spinning (textiles)|span]] is unattested in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], it was deeply engrained in the medieval Christian vision of Eve. In an [[illuminated manuscript|illumination]] from the 13th-century [[Hunterian Psalter]] (''illustration. left'') Eve is shown with distaff and spindle.

In later European folklore, weaving retained its connection with magic.  [[Mother Goose]], traditional teller of [[fairy tale]]s, is often associated with spinning.<ref>Tatar, Maria (1987). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lTtMH_ezI4UC The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales]''. p. 114. {{ISBN|0-691-06722-8}}</ref> She was known as "Goose-Footed Bertha" or ''Reine Pédauque'' ("Goose-footed Queen") in French legends as spinning incredible tales that enraptured children.

The daughter who, her father claimed, could spin straw into gold and was forced to demonstrate her talent, aided by the dangerous earth-daemon [[Rumpelstiltskin]] was an old tale when the [[Brothers Grimm]] collected it.  Similarly, the unwilling spinner of the tale ''[[The Three Spinners]]'' is aided by three mysterious old women.  In ''[[The Six Swans]]'', the heroine spins and weaves [[starwort]] in order to free her brothers from a shapeshifting curse.  ''[[Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle]]'' are enchanted and bring the prince to marry the poor heroine.  [[Sleeping Beauty]], in all her forms, pricks her finger on a spindle, and the curse falls on her.<ref>Tatar, Maria (1987). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lTtMH_ezI4UC The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales]''. pp. 115–8, {{ISBN|0-691-06722-8}}</ref>
[[File:Holman-Hunt, William, and Hughes, Edward Robert - The Lady of Shalott - 1905.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Lady of Shalott (William Holman Hunt)|The Lady of Shalott]]'' by [[William Holman Hunt]], painted from 1888 to 1902]]
In [[Alfred Tennyson]]'s poem "[[The Lady of Shalott]]", her woven representations of the world have protected and entrapped [[Elaine of Astolat]], whose first encounter with reality outside proves mortal. [[William Holman Hunt]]'s painting from the poem (''illustration, right'') contrasts the completely pattern-woven interior with the sunlit world reflected in the roundel mirror. On the wall, woven representations of Myth ("[[Hesperides]]") and Religion ("Prayer") echo the mirror's open roundel; the tense and conflicted Lady of Shalott stands imprisoned within the brass roundel of her loom, while outside the passing knight sings "'Tirra lirra' by the river" as in Tennyson's poem.

A high-born woman sent as a hostage-wife to a foreign king was repeatedly given the epithet "weaver of peace", linking the woman's art and the familiar role of a woman as a dynastic pawn. A familiar occurrence of the phrase is in the early English poem ''[[Widsith]]'', who "had in the first instance gone with Ealhild, the beloved weaver of peace, from the east out of Anglen to the home of the king of the glorious Goths, Eormanric, the cruel troth-breaker..."

==Inca==
In [[Inca mythology]], [[Mama Ocllo]] first taught women the art of spinning thread.

==China==
{{See also|The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl}}

*In [[Tang dynasty]] [[China]], the goddess weaver floated down on a shaft of moonlight with her two attendants.  She showed the upright court official ''Guo Han'' in his garden that a goddess's robe is seamless, for it is woven without the use of needle and thread, entirely on the loom. The phrase "a goddess's robe is seamless" passed into an idiom to express perfect workmanship.  This idiom is also used to mean a perfect, comprehensive plan.
*The Goddess Weaver, daughter of the [[Queen Mother of the West|Celestial Queen Mother]] and [[Jade Emperor]], wove the [[stars]] and their light, known as "[[the Silver River]]" (what Westerners call "[[Milky Way|The Milky Way]] Galaxy"), for heaven and earth.  She was identified with the [[star]] Westerners know as [[Vega]].  In a 4,000-year-old legend, she came down from the Celestial Court and fell in love with the mortal Buffalo Boy (or Cowherd), (associated with the star [[Altair]]).  The Celestial Queen Mother was jealous and separated the lovers, but the Goddess Weaver stopped weaving the Silver River, which threatened heaven and earth with darkness.  The lovers were separated, but are able to meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh moon.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=unM5hd_V13MC&dq=Chinese+Goddess-Weaver&pg=PA429 Jung Chang, ''Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China''], New York: Touchstone, 2003, reprint, GlobalFlair, 1991, p. 429, accessed 2 Nov 2009</ref>

==Japan==
* The Japanese folktale ''[[Tsuru no Ongaeshi]]'' features a weaving theme.  A crane, rescued by a childless elderly couple, appears to them in the guise of a girl who cares for them out of gratitude for their kindness and is adopted as their daughter.  She secretly begins weaving stunningly beautiful cloth for the couple to sell under the condition that they may not see her weave.  Though the couple initially comply, they are overcome with curiosity and find the girl is the crane who has been weaving the cloth from her own feathers, leaving her in a pitiful state.  With her identity discovered, she must leave the remorseful couple.  A variation of the story replaces the elderly couple with a man, who marries the crane when she takes on the form of a young woman.

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==Christian hagiography==
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Multiple individuals have been designated as [[patron saints]] of various aspects of textile work. The mythology and folklore surrounding their patronage can be found in their respective [[hagiographies]].

According to the [[Gospel of James]], the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] was weaving the veil for the [[Holy of Holies]] when the [[Annunciation]] occurred.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0847.htm|title=CHURCH FATHERS: Protoevangelium of James|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=2019-01-31}}</ref>

* Textiles generally: [[Anthony Mary Claret]] is a Catholic patron saint of textile merchants. [[Saint Homobonus]] is a Catholic patron saint of tailors and clothworkers. [[Saint Maurice]] is considered a patron saint of weavers, dyers, and clothmaking in general in [[Coptic Orthodoxy]], [[Oriental Orthodoxy]], the [[Roman Catholic Church]], and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]. [[Parascheva of the Balkans]] is a patron of embroiderers, needle workers, spinners, and weavers among the Eastern Orthodox.
* Drapers: [[St. Blaise]] is the patron saint of [[draper]]s.
* Dyers: [[Lydia of Thyatira]], a [[New Testament]] figure, is a patron saint of [[Dyeing|dyers]] in both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. [[Saint Maurice]] is also associated with dyers.
* Fulling: [[Anastasius the Fuller]] is the patron saint of [[fulling]] in the Catholic Church.
* Glovers: [[Mary Magdalene]] is a patron saint of glovers in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church. [[Gummarus]] is a patron saint of glovers in the Catholic church. Saints [[Crispin and Crispinian]] are Eastern Orthodox patron saints of glovers.
* Hosiers: [[Saint Fiacre]] is the patron saint of [[hosiers]].
* Lacework: Saints [[Crispin and Crispinian]] are considered patron saints of [[lace]]work.
* Laundry and laundry workers: [[Clare of Assisi]] and [[Saint Veronica]] are the patron saints of laundry and laundry workers.
* Millinery: [[Severus of Avranches]] is the Catholic patron saint of [[millinery]].
* Needlework: [[Clare of Assisi]] is the patron saint of [[needlework]], and [[Rose of Lima]] is the patron saint of [[embroidery]], a specific type of needlework. [[Parascheva of the Balkans]] is the patron saint of needlework and other aspects of textiles among the Eastern Orthodox.
* Pursemakers: [[Saint Brioc]] is the patron saint of [[Money bag|purse]]makers.
* Seamstresses: [[Saint Anne]] is regarded as the patron saint of [[seamstresses]] in both Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions.
* Silk workers: [[Severus of Avranches]] is the Catholic patron saint of [[silk]] workers.
* Spinning: [[Catherine of Alexandria|Saint Catherine]] is the patron saint of spinners.
* Tapestry workers: [[Francis of Assisi]] is the patron saint of [[tapestry]] workers.
* Weaving: [[Onuphrius]] is considered a patron saint of weaving in Coptic, Eastern, and Oriental Orthodoxy as well as Catholic traditions. [[Saint Maurice]] and [[Parascheva of the Balkans]] are also patrons of weaving, as is [[Severus of Avranches]].
* Wool workers: [[Saint Blaise]] is a patron saint of [[wool]] workers revered by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox traditions. [[Severus of Avranches]] is also considered a patron saint of wool workers by Catholics.
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==See also==
*[[Cultural depictions of spiders]]
*[[God's eye]]
*[[Namkha]]
*[[Tantra]]
*[[Wyrd]]
*[[Norns]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Barber, Elizabeth Wayland (1991). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=HnSlynSfeEIC Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean]''. Princeton: Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|0-691-03597-0}}
*Scheid, John, and Jesper Svenbro (1996). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=f2Jjb-TxcIIC The Craft of Zeus: Myths of Weaving and Fabric]''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-17549-2}}
*[[Marta Weigle|Weigle, Marta]] (2007, 1982). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=1aLCcrYU0LwC Spiders and Spinsters: Women and Mythology]''. Santa Fe: Sunstone Press. {{ISBN|978-0-86534-587-4}}
*Volkmann, Helga (2008). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=00QOQ3XAMDEC Purpurfäden und Zauberschiffchen: Spinnen und Weben in Märchen und Mythen]''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. {{ISBN|978-3-525-20858-8}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

[[Category:Textiles in folklore| ]]
[[Category:Comparative mythology]]