Stories Behind Hanging Christmas Stockings
By Joy J. Fine
One tradition that is a favorite, especially of young children, is the hanging of Christmas stockings. What joy it brings to little faces to wake the morning of Christmas day and see their stockings bulging with goodies. There are many stories about how this tradition came to be, but one has been told over the years more often, and pleased more children, than the others. The story begins with a man whose wife had been very ill. He loved her dearly and spent everything he had to try to make her well. Sadly she died despite his efforts. This left him with three daughters and very little money to take care of them, let alone to be able to marry them off. He was so very worried about his daughters and shuddered at the possibilities of what would become of them when he died.
This sad tale reached the ears of St. Nicholas. He was travelling through the village where the family lived and wanted to help. Knowing that the father would have trouble accepting money from a stranger he worked out a plan to leave something to help the girls. Waiting until it was late he snuck into the man’s home by coming down the chimney bringing with him three small bags filled with gold coins. Once in the house he had to decide where to put the coins. He noticed that the girls had put their stockings to dry over the mantle of their fireplace. Deciding this was the ideal place he put a bag of gold coins in each one. The next morning the family was thrilled to find these gifts. This enabled the girls to each be married and live out their lives happily. The story goes that this prompted the hanging of Christmas stockings in the early days as others hoped for some special gift to arrive.
There is another story that explains the origin of the hanging of Christmas stockings. It tells the story of Dutch children who traditionally placed their clogs by the fireplace and filled them with hay for the donkeys. Due to their generosity Sinterklaas left them treats in their clogs. As well they left a little something by the fireplace for Sinterklaas to say thank you. When these children came to America from Holland they brought with this tradition which became modified as the children there did not wear the same footwear. The clogs turned into the more common stockings and the name of Sinterklaas eventually became Santa Claus.
Another story is told to explain the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings in the United States. There was an author, George Webster and the man who drew the pictures for his stories, Thomas Nast, who published a story about Christmas. In this publication there is a poem that specifically deals with hanging the stockings in anticipation of St. Nicholas. It is believed by many to have influenced the tradition. Whichever story is true, or perhaps they all are, the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings brings smiles to the faces of little ones on the celebration of Christmas Day.
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