We have lots of Christmas stockings. Some of them are so furry I feel like they should have a tail and a collar. Some have sequins. The oldest one is threadbare felt covered in sparkles and beads. None of them looks like anything you would or could wear, although my kids did try it one year.
I think we’re all vaguely aware that the stockings as decorations evolved from a tradition of hanging up actual socks that were much less attractive. But most people don’t really know where that tradition originated.
The legend is not quaint or heart-warming. In fact, it’s the antithesis of the image evoked by the cheerful white-rimmed gift-repositories hanging over the hearth. But it does have a happy ending at least.
The Tradition is Traced Back to St. Nicholas
The name Santa Claus is generally believed to be a mispronounced version of St. Nicholas (spoken with a German or Dutch accent). While (spoiler alert) Santa Claus is not real, evidence indicates that St. Nicholas was an actual bishop in Myra, a city in what is now Turkey. But he was born less than 300 years after Jesus, when the Christian church was still young and Roman officials were locking up so many priests that it was said the prisons had no room for actual criminals.
Although written accounts of St. Nicholas didn’t appear until centuries after his death, the sheer volume of legends in the region is taken as evidence of his existence. But what he actually achieved during his life is still reported as legend rather than fact.
The legends tell of a generous man who gave away the wealth he inherited from his parents and who was always looking for secret ways to help those in need. Nicholas is said to have performed miracles such as:
- Banishing demons from trees
- Calming a raging storm at sea
- Bringing back to life three children who had been murdered and pickled to be sold as meat during a time of famine
But the most famous legend about St. Nicholas is what triggered the Christmas stocking tradition.
Gifts to Three Sisters
Throughout much of history, women raised in upper class society were neither expected nor allowed to work to support themselves. While poorer women could labor alongside the men in their families and still remain respectable, wealthier women were supposed to marry someone who would support them in a prestigious manner.
To catch a proper husband, young ladies in society were expected to be beautiful and chaste. But the most important lure to catch a husband was a dowry. A dowry was something of value provided by the bride’s father essentially as a bribe to take over the financial responsibility for the girl’s support. While a dowry was often money, it could be land, part of a business, or something else valuable.
If a father didn’t have anything valuable or wasn’t prepared to give it away, then a daughter would have no hope of marriage. And if she couldn’t marry, she was simply a burden to her father.
The story that provided the origin for the Christmas stocking tradition involved three such daughters. According to legend, their father had lost his wealth and planned to sell the girls into prostitution. St. Nicholas, who was himself from a wealthy family, knew about the girls’ plight and wanted to help, but he also knew the father was too proud to openly accept charity. So, one night, he tossed a bag of gold through the window where it landed in one of the daughter’s shoes. This gift provided enough money for the oldest daughter to marry, and apparently caused the father to hold off on his plans regarding the other two. After the wedding of the oldest daughter, Nicholas returned and tossed a second bag of gold through the window, and this enabled the second daughter to marry.
The family started to catch on. After the second daughter’s wedding, some legends say the third daughter started putting her shoe by the window every night. Other legends say the father waited up nights to catch Nicholas in the act so he would know the source of his good fortune.
Centuries Later…
1700 years have passed. An episode where a bag of gold placed in a shoe avoided the need for prostitution has evolved into to a tradition where every family is expected to hang a furry bag of chocolate and chotskies from the the closest thing they have to a mantel. How did we get here? The legends are just as fuzzy as most of our stockings. Some versions of the St. Nicholas story indicate that when he threw the bags of gold, the gold landed in stockings hanging in front of the fire to dry.
In some countries, the tradition continued to involve setting out shoes for gifts rather than stockings.But stockings are certainly easier to deal with, and hanging them up on a bedpost for St. Nicholas may be a little more special than lining up your shoes by the window.
In the 1823 American poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” stockings are hung by the chimney in anticipation and St. Nicholas arrives to fill them with gifts. So the tradition was well-established by the early 1820s in the U.S. But I think the later Victorians get the credit for embellishing this tradition to make the stockings decorative gift bags rather than hosiery. Ads from the early 1900s show decorated stockings offered for sale, including some already filled with gifts.
It is a tradition in many places to include oranges in Christmas stockings. Some say this represents the gold coins. Others say the oranges were included because they were more of a treat than candy back in the days before tropical produce was sold in every corner grocery store.
Remembering the Origin of Christmas Traditions Can Keep Us in a Thankful Mindset
I absolutely love Christmas decorations and everything associated with the season. I think that’s mostly because I hate the dying off of the trees and plants, and the cold and dark of winter. Christmas lights provide the antidote.
But it’s helpful to me to think about the origins of some of these traditions and decoration to remind me of how much I have to be thankful for.
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I first delved into the stories of St. Nicholas when I was writing a research paper for a class in college, but I don’t remember if it was a religion class or philosophy class. (I took four of each as part of the core curriculum at Catholic University. I think my paper had something to do with the use of pagan holidays to ease the transition to Christian traditions.) In any case, my sources for much of the information in this blog are listed in a bibliography that is stuck in a file box under a heavy plant that I have no intention of moving any time soon.
There are sources of online information, of course, including the St. Nicholas Center and a well-documented page on Wikipedia. Smithsonian Magazine did a four-part series on Christmas stockings that includes some wonderful photos and ads.
I haven’t written any stories set in the 3rd Century, although that would be an interesting world to explore fictionally. I have written quite a few shorter books exploring Christmas traditions of early 19th Century Anglo-American culture, including An Excuse for Poor Conduct and Bride of Belznickel.
Thanks for reading!