subject: Christmas Stockings - The Legends [print this page] As is appropriate for the Christmas Season, I found myself this week considering where and when the tradition of the Christmas stocking originated.
The leading contenders are presented here.
Our first candidate involves a 4th century nobleman who, in his youth, was very handsome and wealthy. The nobleman married and had three lovely daughters.
Unhappily, a long period of crop failure settled upon his lands. As a result, he and the many families who depended upon the nobleman were reduced to penury.
The nobleman spent every gold coin he possessed providing these families with bread for their tables.
To make matters much worse, during the years of famine in the land, the nobleman's beloved wife died.
Her death broke the nobleman's spirit. He sold his lands to further help his people, and moved himself and his daughters into a cottage at the edge of a forest that was once part of his domain.
His daughters, all trying as best they could to make their small home happy, had fallen in love with three brothers from a far off village who they had met on one of their trips to the market.
The brothers would have married the nobleman's daughters. However, their parents, because of standing custom, insisted that respectable brides must have respectable dowries.
There was little chance of the nobleman fulfilling this condition, and, this failure further weighed upon his heart.
Although his daughters understood, and did not complain to their father, the nobleman could discern by the sadness in their eyes that they were terribly unhappy.
It was at this time that word of the nobleman's plight reached the ears of a man named Nicholas.
Nicholas was a traveling preacher who had received great gifts from Eastern rulers because of his hopeful messages to them.
One night, Nicholas arranged for three modest bags of gold to be left upon the nobleman's doorstep, and guarded until dawn.
The nobleman, discovering the gold, did not know from whence it came. However, he knew for what it was intended.
His daughters were subsequently married to the three brothers, and the nobleman himself was invited to occupy a small, but cozy, castle on the estate of the brothers' parents.
The nobleman lived happily ever after surrounded by merry daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren. (Note: A variation of this story has gold coins being thrown through the cottage's open window, and magically finding their way into the daughters' stockings which were hanging from the mantle to dry after being washed. This version supplies us with the connection to the Christmas stocking tradition.)
Our second story is one that comes down to us from 16th century Holland. It is said that the children of that place and time would leave their wooden shoes, their clogs, by the fireplace on Christmas night, filled with straw for Sinterklaas' reindeer.
Also, refreshments for Sinterklaas were provided. In the morning, in return for their kindness, Sinterklaas would have invariably left gifts for the children.
Thirdly, we have a more recent historical tract from the last half of the 19th century. This version involves the illustrator/writer team of Thomas Nast (illustrator), and George Webster (writer).
According to this version, they created a story with an illustration of stockings being hung from a mantle, thus giving birth to the tradition. This bit of history may be accurate. However, as a genesis story, it seems flawed, considering the 4th century legend of the nobleman. However, that will be for the reader to decide.
Finally, there are two "related" traditions, one involving Italian children who leave their shoes out the night before Epiphany, January 5, for La Befana the good witch; and, the other, Puerto Rican children who put greens and flowers in small boxes and place them under their beds for the camels of the Three Magi. These latter two traditions also provide the children with rewards for their kindnesses.
All of these alternative stories, traditions and/or legends have been used at one time or another to explain the practice of hanging Christmas stockings.
The reader is asked to make his or her selection and then hold on to it no matter the circumstances. There is nothing more upsetting to children than a beloved adult failing to maintain a firm conviction regarding the origin of the Christmas stocking.
