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Dutch children hang up their stockings by the fireplace for Sinterklaas to fill with treats and gifts on the eve of St. Nicholas Day (December 5th). This tradition is similar to hanging stockings for Santa Claus in other parts of the world.
The hanging of stockings at Christmas comes from a story about a poor widower who had to two daughters. They were very poor and the father could not afford to give his daughters any dowries. St. Nicholas heard of this family and threw gold coins down the chimney. These coins landed in the daughters stockings that were hanging on the mantel of the fireplace to dry after washing. The next morning the daughters found the gold coins which was enough for their dowries. The townspeople heard of this and started hanging stockings on their mantels as well. And the tradition begins.
The first author to mention Christmas stockings in his stories was Clement Clarke Moore in his poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas," also known as "Twas the Night Before Christmas." This poem was published in 1823 and is where the tradition of hanging stockings by the fireplace on Christmas Eve is popularly attributed.
Some children in Europe place shoes outside of their door for Christmas rather than hanging stockings. Other children place gifts or even bouquets of flowers outside.
Christmas Stockings began in from the people who worshiped Odin. Children were to place shoes near the fireplace filled with carrots. Odin's horses would eat the carrots as her flew overhead. He would then put presents in the shoes as a gift of thanks.
The custom of hanging stockings dates back to the early 19th century, though its origins can be traced to earlier traditions involving gift-giving during the Christmas season. One popular legend suggests that St. Nicholas, known for his generosity, would place coins in the stockings of children who hung them by the fireplace to dry. Over time, this practice evolved into the modern tradition of filling stockings with small gifts and treats on Christmas Eve.
The idea of putting coal in a Christmas stocking is considered to have originated in Italy and though the tradition of hanging stockings is still carried on most people don't put coals in bad children's stockings anymore.
Traditionally, at Christmas, stocking are hung from the fireplace's mantelpiece.
Santa brings presents to good children around the world on Christmas Eve. The children awaken in the morning and there are many presents from him under the Christmas tree and within their stockings hanging by the fireplace. Naughty children may receive coal in their stocking or a rotten apple. The movie Miracle on 34th Street is a wonderful film that may confirm or deny the very existence of Santa himself.
When three young boys were found murdered and stuffed into a barrel of brine, St. Nicholas of Myra is said to have brought them back to life. For this he is called the patron saint of children.
Some creative ways to decorate a fireplace with a mantle for the holiday season include hanging a festive garland, displaying decorative candles or lanterns, arranging seasonal greenery or flowers, incorporating ornaments or stockings, and adding twinkling lights or a wreath.
The prevalent custom of washing red stockings with white trim and hang them near the fireplace in anticipation that Santa will fill them with gifts is quite ancient and has been followed in many countries. Christmas stockings have now become inseparable from Christmas symbols and children love to find small gifts or knicks-knacks in these stockings in the morning. Here are some legends and theories on how Christmas stockings became so popular and a part of Christmas traditions:The tradition of hanging stockings is said to have its roots in the 16th century Dutch tradition, where children in Holland used to leave their clogs by the fireplace filled with straw for the reindeer or donkeys of the Saint and a treat for Santa himself in the house. In return, the Santa Claus used to leave treats for children.There is a legend about kind Saint Nicholas related to the tradition of Christmas stockings. Once a kind nobleman had a turn of fate. He lost his money and his wife and was left alone to fend off his old days with three daughters of marriage-able age. Once, when St. Nicholas was going on rounds, he heard all four of them crying together for they had little to eat and make merry. Their biggest problem was how to arrange dowries for the daughters so that they can get married. The saint knew that these people were too respectable to be offered any charity and so he thought of another way to help them out. He saw that the three daughters had washed their stockings and hung them over their fireplace to dry. So, in the night, he quietly climbed down the chimney and placed three purses of gold in each of the girl's stockings that was enough to marry them off. In the morning, when the family found the money, they were very thankful to God and the kind nobleman who did so much for them.According to yet another theory, at about the end of the nineteenth century, Thomas Nast and George Webster cooked up a story about a visit from Santa Claus as an illustrator and writer respectively, which became very popular. It was in this story that Christmas stockings were first mentioned as being hung from a chimney, thus, giving birth to the tradition.Whatever be the reason, one could not help but smile when young innocent faces break into grins and smiles when they find small gifts and toys in their stockings, supposedly from Santa. Other similar traditions that are found around the world around Christmas include putting flowers and greens in small boxes and putting them under their bed by Puerto Rican children for the camels of the Three Kings; French children keeping their shoes, preferably wooden peasant shoes, by the fireplace; and Italian children leaving their shoes out the night before Epiphany, January 5, for La Befana the good witch.