There are so many Christmas traditions we do each year, and how many people actually know the origin of these holiday habits. From putting up a Christmas tree to decorating it to making gingerbread, our holidays are filled with traditions with ambiguous origins.
In today’s blog, we’ll discuss some of the more popular explanations of how Christmas stockings originated. Be sure to check out our posts on the origin of Christmas trees and the story behind Christmas ornaments while you’re at it. Here at Gigi Seasons, we have pet holiday stockings and designer Christmas stockings for everyone in the family. Buy Christmas stockings today and get ready to participate in this age-old tradition.
St. Nicholas
One legend explaining where all of our cute Christmas stockings today have come from originates with Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick himself — but probably not the bearded man wearing red and white that you thought of. St. Nicholas is a gift-giver, which, as you can surmise, fits in perfectly with the concept of Christmas stockings.
Legend has it that there was a poor man with three beautiful daughters. He didn’t have enough money to get his daughters married. Saint Nicholas passed through his village when he heard people talking about the girls, and he decided to help the man in secret. He threw three bags of gold — some stories maintain that it was three gold balls — into an open window. One, supposedly, landed in a stocking. Another story says that Saint Nicholas threw the gold into the stockings that were hanging to dry by the fire.
Whatever actually happened on that wintery night, the tradition was born! Children would hang stockings or put out shoes with anticipation of what Saint Nicholas would bring them. Eventually, people stopped using their day-to-day stockings and Christmas stockings were made — though they were most likely much different than the designer Christmas stockings you can find today.
Odin
Another explanation for the origin of Christmas stockings involves the Germanic/Scandinavian Odin. Odin had a flying horse named Sleipnir, and children would place carrots, straw, and more in their boots and near the chimney for Sleipnir to eat. Odin would then gratefully repay the children with treats, candy, gifts, or more in the boots! This tradition supposedly survived the Christianization of Europe and was instrumental in beautiful Christmas stockings still being hung in homes across the world today.
Buy Christmas Stockings From Gigi Seasons
We’re sure there are many more explanations out there that attempt to explain how this Christmas tradition got its start — or maybe it’s just part of the magic of Christmas. Whatever it is, you’ll certainly want to buy Christmas stockings that match your personality.
Here at Gigi Seasons, you can choose from Rudolph Christmas stockings, pet holiday stockings, and any other designer Christmas stocking you can think of. From faux fur stockings to denim Christmas stockings, we have it all. Browse our bougie, rustichic, and boho lodge collections today, and get ready to buy Christmas stockings you’ll love.