DYI Halloween Spiderweb Craft: Athena & Arachne’s Weaving Contest
Lurking in the shadows and spinning their webs, creepy crawly spiders are often associated with old haunted mansions and Halloween. This Halloween season, make our simple spider web and learn a little about the ancient myth of Arachne and Athena’s weaving contest.
Spiders and Halloween
Spiders are associated with Halloween for a number of reasons. The obvious is that old graveyards, decrepit houses, and lonely forests are the prefect setting for scary stories and a great choice of home for spiders. Spiders eat other bugs and bugs love to live in damp, decaying areas. Lots bugs means lots of spiders.
In the middle ages, these eight-legged creatures developed an association with witches. As just bats and black cats hang out with witches, so do spiders. They help witches “weave” their magic spells and sometimes even get thrown as an ingredient in a potion or two.
One more connection between spiders and Halloween is the month of October. Fall is dating season for spiders because they are looking for a mate. You are more likely to see them in October than other times of the year because they are out and about looking for a boyfriend or a girlfriend. They come out of their shadowy hiding spots seeking to find other spiders!
More About Spiders
Spiders belong to a class of animals known as arachnids and are a little different from what you might call a bug or insect. To be an arachnid, animals must have 8 legs and no antenna. Other creatures in the arachnid class include scorpions and ticks. There are more than 100,000 types
of arachnids.
Can you guess the word for a fear of spiders? Arachnophobia.
The arachnids get their name from an ancient Greek myth about weaving contest between the goddess Athena and a shepherd’s daughter named Arachne.
The Myth of Athena Vs. Arachne
For the ancient Greeks, weaving was a very important skill. Women did most the weaving in their homes and made all the clothing, rugs, blankets and other woven items the family would need. In fact, weaving was such an important part of a woman’s life that when girl babies were born in Athens (a Greek city named after the Goddess Athena) the family would attach a tuft of wool to their door. This announced the new baby was a girl and a future weaver. So much for pink balloons and an “It’s a Girl” sign. (If it was a boy, they would put an olive crown on the door.) It is no wonder the Greeks had myth all about weaving. There are in fact a few different versions of how Arachne became a spider. For this craft, we will stick to one.
Both wove beautiful tapestries. Athena wove four different pieces all showing stories about people who thought they were equal to the gods and the bad things that happened to them. Arachne wove tapestries showing times when the gods had been cruel to people for no real reason. It was clear to everyone watching the contest Arachne’s work was better. Athena fumed with anger and jealousy. Unable to control herself, Athena turned Arachne into a spider and condemned her weave for eternity.
According to the Greeks, the goddess Athena, the Goddess of wisdom, invented weaving. (If you want to learn more about Athena and the Greeks checkout our Athenian Owl Coin craft.) Arachne was the young daughter of a shepherd and very talented at weaving. But she also had a big ego. Arachne told anyone who would listen how awesome she was and even said she was as good at weaving as a god! It is never a good idea to boast about yourself and say you as good as the gods in ancient Greece. Athena found about Arachne’s bragging and challenged her to a weaving contest to see who really was the best.
Now that you know the myth of Arachne, lets make our own spider web craft.
Supplies:
- 6 Popsicle Sticks (some other flat stick)
- White string
- Black paint
- Scissors
- Glue Gun (other glue)
Directions:
- Paint the wooden sticks black
- Wait for them to dry
- Glue them together in the center forming a star
- Tie the string around one of the wooden sticks
- Wrap the string between the stick creating a web