Christmas History
By Ava Ward
Rough Draft
In the festivities of Christmas, we hang stockings above the fire place and pretend there is a man named Saint Nicholas, but how was this all started? Why do we do all these strange things in celebration of Christmas? In the 4th century, Saint Nicholas was known for his generosity and his devotion to children. In 340 A.D. he died and was buried in Myra, an area in present day Turkey. Italian soldiers stole his remains and took them back to Italy, making him famous in Europe.
His reputation of kindness and generosity led people to believe he could create miracles and he soon became the patron saint of Russia, known for his red cape and flowing white beard. In Greece, he is the patron saint of sailors, in France he was the patron of lawyers, and in Belgium the patron of children and travelers. Thousands of churches across Europe were dedicated to him and around the 12th century an official church holiday was created in his honor. The Dutch where the ones who kept this belief alive. Dutch children would leave their wooden shoes above the fire place, good kids were rewarded with goods in their shoes and the bad children were given coal. This tradition was soon picked up by Americans in the 17th century.
This still doesn’t answer the question, where did the hanging of stockings come from? As I stated before the idea of stockings started with the Dutch with their shoes placed above the fire place in hopes of having goods in the morning. Legend has it; a kindly nobleman became extremely depressed after the passing of his beloved wife and foolishly squandered his fortune. Leaving his three young daughters without dowries. The legendary Saint Nicholas heard about the girls’ sad dilemma, and set forth to help them. Wishing to remain anonymous he rode to the young ladies house and placed three things of gold above the fire place, where by chance a woman hung her stockings up to dry. In the morning the girls found a surprising fortune. Ever since that shocking morning, as tradition, we hang stockings above the fire place. Isn’t it odd how we do all these things but never ask where they came from?
