THE LEGEND OF
CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS
THE LONGEST LIST OF THE LONGEST STUFF AT THE LONGEST DOMAIN NAME AT LONG LAST

The Legend of Christmas Stockings

All of us have heard the line “the stockings were hung by the chimney with care”; however, do you know the origin of this unique tradition?

There are different customs associated with the hanging of the stockings such as in some countries shoes were placed near the fireplace on Christmas Eve, in Canada, stockings were hung by the end of the bed, and the idea of a “lump of coal” for children on the naughty list comes from Italy. However, today, not too many people use the Christmas stocking for much more than a holiday decoration.

With all of these variations floating around, where did the legend begin? As the legend goes, a gentle and kind nobleman was living alone with his three daughters after his wife died from illness. He lost all of his money from bad business dealing and useless inventions and found himself and his daughters living in a peasant’s cottage with his daughters doing all the cleaning, cooking, and sewing.

As his daughters got older and it was time for them to marry, the man became very depressed. He knew his daughters would not be able to marry without dowries, money, and property to give to the new husband’s family.

One night, the three girls washed their clothing and hung their stockings over the fireplace for them to dry. Later that evening, while everyone was sleeping Saint Nicholas, stopped by the once nobleman’s house. Saint Nicholas knew the desperation of the father, when he spied the girl’s stockings over the fireplace. Saint Nicholas had a wonderful idea; he took three bags of gold from his pouch and threw them one by one down the chimney. Each bag of gold landed in one stocking after the other until all three stockings had one bag of gold.

The next morning, the man’s daughters found the gold in their stockings, which was enough for each one of them to get married. The nobleman lived a very long and happy life seeing all three daughters happily married.

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