December 09, 2022
Why are there Christmas traditions with stockings?
For many of us, Christmas takes place during the coldest time of the year, contributing to the purchase and offer of items that combat this discomfort. In this sense, socks are already standing out as a very useful gift. If, by chance, they get soaked and are placed to dry by the fireplace, we end up portraying an ancestral scenario known by all, but is this why it became a tradition to wear and offer stockings at Christmas? Know everything in the following article. 👇
The Origin of the Christmas Stocking
Legend has it that Christmas stockings date back to Saint Nicholas who, at that time, was just Nicholas of Myra: a rich but generous priest known for his good deeds and the gifts he bestowed on the people of Myra, especially children.
The myth tells the story of a poor widower with three daughters for whom he could not afford dowries. At the time, this meant that young women were unlikely to marry and might even have to resort to prostitution. Eager to help, Nicolau entered the family home during the night, while everyone was sleeping, and found the family's socks hanging out to dry. He filled them with gold coins, with enough for his daughters to pay their dowries. There is also another version of the story that told that, instead of putting the coins inside the stockings, Saint Nicholas threw bags of gold down the chimney that fell into stockings hanging from the fireplace – thus giving rise to the origin of Santa Claus’ descent. through the chimney.
This and other stories of Saint Nicholas's generosity caused his legend to change and, a few centuries after his death, his birthday began to be celebrated on December 6th throughout Christian Europe. Eventually, these traditions made their way to America and morphed into the concept we know of Santa Claus today, as celebrations spanned from December 6th to December 25th.
As history evolved, many children received Santa's gifts in the stockings they had hung by the fireplace or, sometimes, in their shoes as well. Dutch children, for example, began to fill the clogs with hay and carrots for the horses or reindeer of Sinterklaas (another nickname for Saint Nicholas) to eat, which were then replaced with gifts.
In the late 1800s, in another context, Victorians made decorations and gifts as a focus on Christmas, and stockings were handmade or bought just to store Christmas presents. These socks were larger than an ordinary sock and were even decorated with ornaments, a tradition that children loved, as it meant more gifts could fit inside. These are some of the stories that laid the foundation for the traditions that we still observe today, giving even more magic and warmth to the Christmas stockings that we receive annually.
The myth tells the story of a poor widower with three daughters for whom he could not afford dowries. At the time, this meant that young women were unlikely to marry and might even have to resort to prostitution. Eager to help, Nicolau entered the family home during the night, while everyone was sleeping, and found the family's socks hanging out to dry. He filled them with gold coins, with enough for his daughters to pay their dowries. There is also another version of the story that told that, instead of putting the coins inside the stockings, Saint Nicholas threw bags of gold down the chimney that fell into stockings hanging from the fireplace – thus giving rise to the origin of Santa Claus’ descent. through the chimney.
This and other stories of Saint Nicholas's generosity caused his legend to change and, a few centuries after his death, his birthday began to be celebrated on December 6th throughout Christian Europe. Eventually, these traditions made their way to America and morphed into the concept we know of Santa Claus today, as celebrations spanned from December 6th to December 25th.
As history evolved, many children received Santa's gifts in the stockings they had hung by the fireplace or, sometimes, in their shoes as well. Dutch children, for example, began to fill the clogs with hay and carrots for the horses or reindeer of Sinterklaas (another nickname for Saint Nicholas) to eat, which were then replaced with gifts.
In the late 1800s, in another context, Victorians made decorations and gifts as a focus on Christmas, and stockings were handmade or bought just to store Christmas presents. These socks were larger than an ordinary sock and were even decorated with ornaments, a tradition that children loved, as it meant more gifts could fit inside. These are some of the stories that laid the foundation for the traditions that we still observe today, giving even more magic and warmth to the Christmas stockings that we receive annually.