Most
blogs this week have great Christmas themes, from pictures of decorated trees
of the past to names of ancestors some family historians would like to have as guests for
dinner, to ideas about getting all that information from family members
assembled together to celebrate the season.
OK,
I won’t disappoint. This one is about Christmas stockings, hung with care in
hopes of. . . (with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore).
In
the hundreds of photographs in my dozens of family albums, I thought I had many
pictures of stockings hung on a fireplace or a reasonable facsimile from past
Christmases. I was wrong. There were many trees, all decked out, most with
presents scattered under them following Santa’s visits and before children got
to them. But there were only a few showing stockings. The earliest I could find
– 1974 and 1975 – were taken after all three of our children had arrived. The
stockings were pretty basic models to start with but they got more elaborate as
the years went on.
By
1983 we all had personalized stockings made by my wife, Linda, each with bright Christmas-print
fabrics.
When
our children were married, Linda made additional stockings for the new members of
the family.
I
was curious, as many others are, about how this tradition got started. I don’t
recall ever looking into the history before. It never seemed to be important. Only the
happy faces of children (and many adults) when they came upon them Christmas
morning was what counted. So, like all modern researchers, I looked it up on
the Internet.
A
2012 article written by Emily Spivak for
the Smithsonian
caught my attention, highlighting the story and showing pictures of stockings
going back many decades. She related the common story about the origin as being
St. Nicolas (the Bishop of
Myra at the time) sneaking into the home of a widower with three daughters and
putting gold coins in their stockings, which had been hung by the fireplace to
dry. The gift meant they then had the wherewithal to attract husbands. I know dowries
used to be important but were men so shallow back then that they needed their
brides to bring a little cash with them?
Anyway,
versions of this story have been told for generations now. If it is even close
to the truth, then the beginning of Christmas stockings would have begun early
in the 4th century, in a little village in what is now Turkey – long
before there were genealogists.
There
are many side stories about other traditions concerning what was or is put into
stockings, too:
·
Oranges
are, or were common gifts (Don’t you remember getting those juicy little
Mandarin treats?). One explanation is that they are supposedly symbols of St.
Nicholas as they are gold in colour.
·
Some
regions use boots or shoes instead of stockings. Prior to the introduction of
Christianity, Germanic children, celebrating the Yuletide period, would
apparently fill them with carrots, straw or sugar for the flying horse of the
Norse god, Odin. Odin in return would return the favour by leaving gifts or
candy. This old, white-bearded god may have been the model for the Santa Clause
we know. The horse’s name was Sleipnir, and it had eight legs!
·
A
story grew up in Western Culture that bad children would be given coal in their
stockings. There are no reports of it actually happening as it is a cruel thing
to do and not, in any way, fitting for Christmas. Perhaps the idea was just
used as an enticement to children to be good, just as we tell them today that
Santa Claus is always watching to see who is naughty or nice. Or maybe it comes
from the use of an Italian candy called Carbone Dolce, which looks like coal.
You can find a recipe to make it yourself here.
There
is an interesting article from the
New York Times
published in 1883 about how in the 19th century the Christmas
Stocking had been supplanted by the use of the Christmas Tree – “a rootless and
lifeless corpse” according to the editorial writer. The article celebrated the
introduction of a new type of decorated stocking, much more in keeping with the
holiday season.
Hanging
Christmas stockings is a neat tradition to observe now. You don’t have to belong
to any particular religion or have any specific familial origin to enjoy it and
bring smiles to all family members. They are decorative as well as fun things.
You can find hundreds of ideas online now about how to fill a stocking (Is that
really necessary?) or what to put in them (Again, this is not rocket science!).
Linda, has made many stockings over the years – for our children, for
brothers and sisters, for nieces and nephews and for friends, some of which are
shown above. In 2007 our whole family was invited to spend the holiday with our
son and daughter-in-law in Florida. While there we were also going to spend some
time at Disney World. So she made a stocking for everyone who was going to be
there, all with a Disney Theme – 17 of them! They are works of art as well as
useful repositories for gifts. Don’t you think?
Our children still have and hang theirs each Christmas. Grandma’s stockings have become favourite additions to their seasonal décor and maybe will be family memorabilia one day, too.
These will be filled by Santa when he makes his stop in Vancouver, Canada.
These four are now waiting for Santa to arrive in Beijing, China.
We
still have ours, now hanging on the fireplace of our new condo. I am not sure
Santa will have time to come here this year, though, especially with no kids around! We’ll enjoy
the season in other ways. And yes, mine is that loveable character Grumpy!
To
all of my readers here, please have a very . . .
And
to all a good night!
Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program in England, handling four
parishes in Devon, England. He has published a
number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is the Editor of Relatively Speaking, the
quarterly journal of the Alberta Genealogical Society. Wayne also provides
genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.
