Spider Culture

There are strong connotations associated with spiders. These feelings are generally negative and in some cases extreme, as with someone who suffers from Arachnophobia. Spiders are oftentimes personified as obscene and malignant. Think Shelob in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, or the 1990 film Arachnophobia. Why is this? Spiders, for the most part are harmless to humans. We are much lager, we have developed brains, and humans are not a spider's prey of choice. They don't look at us and think, yum! It may be a disease-avoidance response of disgust that causes this abhorrence of spiders. During the Middle Ages, spiders were perceived as harbingers of the Great Plagues that swept across Europe from the tenth century onwards. This may explain why spider fear is pervasive in European cultures and is seldom observed in other societies such as Indo-China, the Caribbean, Africa, or Australia.

Spiders are a popular emblem of Halloween, which is just around the corner. You can wear a little plastic spider ring, or string a bunch of artificial spider web around your front door. Some people even wear spider costumes. These arachnids are seen as eerie, spooky, and dreadful. I am not afraid of spiders, I don't find them disgusting or dangerous. Here I have posted some photos which would make great Halloween wallpaper. How do these images make you feel?

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