Island Life Magazine Ltd December/January 2018 | Page 67
Notebook
Stocking up
for Christmas
If you were thinking of
a suitable receptacle
for Christmas gifts, it’s
unlikely that an old sock
would be the first thing to
spring to mind.
So how come millions of children
– and lots of nostalgic adults –
will still hang a stocking by the
fireplace or on their bedpost on
December 24th, to be filled with
goodies?
As with many of these Christmas
customs, the origin is somewhat
quirky, and linked to various
legends, all with a similar theme.
One version originates from
Holland, where ‘Sinterklaas’ arrives
on a ship from Spain with his
assistant ‘Zwarte Piet’ or Black
Pete, and they travel the country -
Sinterklaas riding his white steed
and Zwarte Piet on a mule. Dutch
children would leave treats of
carrots and hay in their clogs for
the horse and mule, and in return,
Sinterklaas would fill the shoes
with small gifts.
It’s thought that when Dutch
settlers arrived in America, their
Sinterklaas morphed into our
more familiar Santa Claus, and the
wooden clogs were replaced by
socks or stockings.
Leaving stockings out at
Christmas is also linked to the
legend of St Nicholas - known as
the gift giver. The story goes that
on one occasion he sent bags of
gold down a chimney at the home
of a poor man who had no dowry
for his unmarried daughters. The
gold fell into stockings that had
been hung up by the fireplace
to dry. Hey, presto! We have the
seeds of what’s become a magical
tradition.
Fast forward to the 21st century,
and the hanging up of stockings
by the fireplace remains one of
our most enduring Christmas
customs. Even in sleek modern
homes with radiators and no open
chimneys, Christmas stockings are
still a big part of the celebrations,
and left hanging from bedposts,
doorknobs, windowsills, and
staircases.
Of course we’ve moved on in
most cases from hanging up
our own smelly socks, and now
there’s a whole industry devoted
to producing purpose-made (and
in many cases gigantic) festive
stockings - from the simple and
rustic to the downright glitzy.
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