What could be more authentic than British children rushing downstairs to open their stockings first thing on Christmas morning?
Yet you might be surprised to learn that this apparently innocent tradition has rather dark roots. Today, few people link Christmas stockings with the legendary story of three impoverished sisters in the Middle East around 1,700 years ago. The girls’ poor father could not afford the dowry required to find a husband – nor would he accept charity – leaving them to choose between starvation and prostitution.
Until, one day, a kindly old traveller took pity on them. According to one of many versions of the tale, the man tossed coins down their chimney, with the money landing on their stockings drying on the hearth. The traveller’s name? St Nicholas, now better known as Santa Claus.
