The Christmas stocking tradition began in Europe after the legend of St. Nicholas took hold in the 4thcentury A.D. The legend regarding why stockings are hung comes from a story of a widowed father who has three beautiful daughters. The family had fallen on hard times and the father worried that their impoverished status would make it impossible for his daughters to marry. As the villagers of the town gossiped about the widower’s sad plight, St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, happened to wander through the town and overhear the family’s dilemma. The widower refused St. Nicholas’ charity, so St. Nick slid down the man’s chimney to find the three daughters’ stockings drying by the fire and he filled them with gold coins, before disappearing. This income gave the daughters the dowries they needed to procure a good marriage. Unfortunately, the origin and date of this tale are unknown. In the past, finding an orange in your stocking was a wonderful treat since fresh fruit could be difficult to find. Nowadays, small toys and candies are usually found in stockings. The transformation of the meaning behind hanging stockings and the types of stockings used during the holidays has changed throughout history. During WWII, a U.S. station overseas celebrated Christmas by hanging stockings on their rifles. In Western culture, children who behave badly are threatened with lumps of coal in their stockings instead of presents from Santa. Various designs and personalizing stockings with names became popular as the Christmas stocking continued to evolve over the years.
A special thank you to: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-legend-of-the-christmas-stocking-160854441/, https://www.littlethings.com/history-of-christmas-stockings-in-america/2
