Spinning a Yarn: Ancient Myths About Fiber

Wasting vast amounts of time on internet is a favorite past time, and when combined with my first love of all things fiber it takes on special significance. Finding new topics and material to search for is like finding a vein of gold, and you follow wherever it leads.

While looking longingly at the collection of wheels at the Golding site (knowing I’d never be able to afford one) I was struck by the name of a particular one...a Habetrot. Not completely fulfilled with the brief explanation at the page I went to the beginning point of any web wanderer…..Google.com.

Finding the Habetrot and Scantlie Mab myth of the lowland Scots was just the first dip in the well of interesting and extensive global tales of spinning goddesses.

The Anglo-Celtics had Habetrot as their deity. Spinning was used as code for casting spells and keeping the seasons of the year in motion. She also was associated with creation and the healing arts, as none who wore her garments would fall ill. Habetrot is even honored with a card in some tarot decks. Mab is her sister who spins lint into yarn. The pair find a young maiden a husband, but when he is shown what spinning can do to a woman's features he vows his wife will never spin again…apparently Habe and Mab were not real lookers. Of course the versions are varied and bizarre, but treasure to be sure.

Frau Holle, was the Germanic deity of spinning and her story very close to that of Habetrot, but with a “twist”, she rewarded the diligent spinner with gold.

One of my favorites was the Baltic worship of the goddess Saule, whose wheel was representative of the sun in that culture. Instead of the ugly depiction of hags and distorted women, Saule is dressed in fine silks and has golden hair, shawl and crown. Burial sites in present day Lativa and Lithuania have unearthed spindles made from amber, thought to have protected the spinners fiber from tangling and knots. Today Saule is remembered at the Winter Solstice festivals and shepherds of that region consider her a guardian and have many devotional prayers to her.

The Vikings had Sunna, who was also associated with the sun, and represented with a fiery wheel. Spinning was very important with Bronze era Norse whose sails were made of felted spun fiber. Slaves were forced to spin several hundred yard a day on their spindles, which have been found a archaeological sites. Scandinavian Countries today stories of Sunna are still told at Santa Lucia.

Arachne of the Greeks, the Navajo Spider Woman, plus others from Asia, Africa, and South America are all myths and tales to rediscover. I mainly focused on the northern European stories in this brief article, but I hope you will venture out and gather others that will inspire you to spin on.

-SMT