About Christmas Stockings

Each year over 400 million people around the world celebrate the holiday of Christmas. One of the traditions that is followed by many different cultures is the hanging of stockings on the fireplace. In some families, each child has a hand-sewn stocking decorated with his or her name. There are several different stories that may have originated the idea of Christmas stockings.

Tradition

On Christmas Eve, children leave their Christmas stockings on the fireplace so that Santa can fill them with goodies when he drops off the family's gifts. The other presents are decorated with holiday paper and ribbons and placed under the Christmas tree. Some earlier traditions said that children who did not behave during the year would get a lump of black coal instead of presents in their stocking.

St. Nicholas

What is the origin of Christmas stockings? One story relates how a very kind lord was so sad about his wife's death that he lost all his money. His three daughters no longer had a dowry, so they would not be able to get married. Hearing the girls' sad tale, St. Nicholas rode his horse to the family's home and tossed three bags of gold coins into the fireplace. They fell right into the stockings the daughters had hung on the hearth to dry.

Dutch Clogs

Other people say Christmas stockings started with Dutch immigrants, who came to New Amsterdam (New York City) with their own tradition. During the 1500s, the youth in Holland left their wooden clogs by the fireplace. They put a treat near the hearth for St Nicholas, a generous bishop and patron saint from the 4th century, whom the Dutch called Sinterklaas (later transformed in English as "Sinterclass"). They also left hay in their shoes for the donkey (or horse, depending on who tells the story) that Sinterklaas rode to each family's house. In return, the good children would find a special gift in their shoes on Christmas morning, and the bad ones, coal or potatoes. Americans changed this tradition into stockings, Santa Claus and reindeer.

Thomas Nast

Still others say that the origins of the holiday stocking dates back to the end of the 1800s in the United States. In 1886, the author George Webster wrote the story "Santa Claus and His Works." Thomas Nast, a well-known illustrator who worked for the magazine "Harper's Weekly," was asked to illustrate Webster's story. Recalling the poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Moore, Nast added stockings hanging "by the fire with care" in his drawing and revived the tradition.

Stocking Stuffers

Today, people put all different kinds of things in stockings. Some put in fresh fruit and nuts. Others buy different types of holiday candy and gum. Many buy small gifts from the store, such as key chains, pencils and pens, and little note pads. Some parents who are more health-conscious fill the stocking up with such items as a toothbrush and toothpaste, soap and toiletries. They know that their children will be eating a lot of sweet treats during the holiday.