Textiles in folklore

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.In Roman literature, Ovid in his Metamorphoses (VI, 575–587) recounts the terrible tale of 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 Procne may understand and the women may take their revenge.The Old Norse Darraðarljóð, quoted in Njals Saga, gives a detailed description of valkyries 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.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.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."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.[7] 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.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..." In Inca mythology, Mama Ocllo first taught women the art of spinning thread.
A royal portrait employing strong mythic overtones: Queen Elisabeth of Romania , born a German princess, adopts the national costume of Romania, with distaff and spindle.
Eve spinning, from the Hunterian Psalter , English, ca 1170
The Lady of Shalott by William Holman Hunt , painted from 1888 to 1902
Queen Elisabeth of Romaniaspiders in mythologyspinningspinning wheeldistaffspindleOrion's beltKaratepeRobin Lane FoxfunerarystelaeEaston's Bible Dictionary (1897)MoiraicronesdestinyAriadneDionysusTheseuslabyrinthOlympiansAthenaArachneAlcithoeLeuconoepeplosOdysseyPenelopeOdysseusCalypsoMetamorphosesPhilomelaProcneJane Ellen HarrisonDarraðarljóðNjals SagavalkyriesPre-Roman Iron AgeDejbjerg wagonPerchtaBrothers Grimmfairy taleFrau HoldaSpindle, Shuttle, and NeedleJacob GrimmBrigantiaMinervaJean d'ArrastrouvereLes Évangiles des Quenouillesframe storyKalevalaHunterian PsalterGenesisilluminationMother Goosefairy talesRumpelstiltskinThe Three SpinnersThe Six SwansstarwortSleeping BeautyThe Lady of ShalottWilliam Holman HuntAlfred TennysonElaine of AstolatHesperidesWidsithInca mythologyMama OclloThe Cowherd and the Weaver GirlTang dynastyCelestial Queen MotherJade Emperorthe Silver RiverThe Milky WayAltairTsuru no Ongaeshipatron saintshagiographiesGospel of JamesBlessed Virgin MaryHoly of HoliesAnnunciationAnthony Mary ClaretSaint HomobonusSaint MauriceCoptic OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxyRoman Catholic ChurchEastern Orthodox ChurchParascheva of the BalkansSt. BlaisedrapersLydia of ThyatiraNew TestamentAnastasius the FullerfullingMary MagdaleneGummarusCrispin and CrispinianSaint FiacrehosierslaceworkClare of AssisiSaint VeronicaSeverus of AvranchesmillineryneedleworkRose of LimaembroiderySaint BriocpursemakersSaint AnneseamstressesSaint CatherineFrancis of AssisitapestryOnuphriusSaint BlaiseCultural depictions of spidersGod's eyeNamkhaTantraBruce-Mitford, RupertWeigle, Marta