The Cobweb Curtain: A Christmas Story

In this retelling of the Nativity story, based upon a tale related by Scottish theologian William Barclay in his commentary on The Gospel of Matthew, the holy family, ensconced in the stable at Bethlehem, are visited by the local shepherds, and by the Three Kings, before being warned to flee by the youngest of the shepherds. Setting out for Egypt, they are pursued by the soldiers of Herod, taking refuge in a mountain cave, where their presence is masked by a tiny spider, who weaves a web across the entrance, thereby convincing the pursuers that no one has entered in some time. This act, on the spider's part, and the beautiful web that results, is the origin (so reads the narrative) or our modern custom of decorating Christmas trees with show more tinsel...

My first reaction to this picture-book was one of excitement, as the story related here is almost exactly like a well-known tale from the Islamic tradition, in which the fleeing Muhammad, making his way from Mecca to Medina, shelters in a cave, and is hidden from his enemies by a spider's web, and a dove's nest. I was curious to see what the sources were, for this similar story about the holy family - one which I had never encountered before. I found to my surprise, however, that none of the references I could find to the story predate Barclay, a contemporary Scottish theologian and biblical scholar, who included it - describing it as a "children's legend" - in his study of the Gospel of Matthew. In fact, all the references I could run down (much like this book) cite Barclay as their source. But what were Barclay's sources, for the legend? Is it taken from some sort of midrashic folklore, with which I am unfamiliar? I've read the passage in question, from Barclay, over on google.books, but no mention is made of source. Perhaps I should hunt down a physical copy, to see if there are scholarly notes? Also, how does one explain the conclusion of the tale, in which it is claimed that this biblical-era story explains the modern use of tinsel, in decorating Christmas trees, when the custom of having a holiday tree in the first place had its origins, not in the ancient Middle East, but in pagan northern Europe?

I have a few theories - none proven - about all this. There are a number of folkloric traditions, of much later date, from various European cultures, about the origin of tinsel in the web of a spider, spun on a Christmas tree. See Shirley Climo's The Cobweb Christmas for a retelling of a German tale, and Eric A. Kimmel's The Spider's Gift for a Ukrainian one. Then, as mentioned, there is the famous Islamic tradition of Muhammad being saved from his pursuers by a spider's web. Theory number one runs: Barclay actually encountered a legend, in the course of his (extensive) biblical study, about the holy family being saved in this way, and combined it with the later European tales about spiders creating the first tinsel. Then there's theory number two: Barclay Christianized an Islamic story, without giving credit to his source, and combined it with the later European tales about spiders creating the first tinsel.

In either case, ideally there should be much more discussion of source material and historical and cultural background here, particularly when this adaptation gives the completely erroneous impression that a) the Christmas tree tradition dates back to biblical times and traditions (when it was adapted from other traditions, at a much later date), and b) the tradition of tinsel is taken from this tale (when it's hard to see how it could have been, when tinsel predates a time when this story seems to have been widely known). These issues - of possible misrepresentation, and general cultural and historical confusion - make me very reluctant to recommend this one. show less