Have you ever been sipping a hot chocolate by the Christmas tree
and wondered to yourself, why do people hang stockings for Santa
on Christmas?
Let's find out on today's episode of Colossal Questions.
It's hard to picture Christmas morning
without stockings hanging somewhere.
But if you actually think about it for one second,
it's a pretty weird tradition.
Asking Santa Claus to fill a big, stinky sock with toys
and treats is definitely strange.
And even stranger-- no one really knows how it started.
There is one popular story that's probably
a bit more fiction than fact, but it
gives the Christmas stocking quite the fantastical origin.
According to the tale, there was a father
with three daughters who was having trouble
making ends meet.
He worked hard day in and day out.
But as winter approached, he worried he just
couldn't do enough for them.
Come Christmas time, good old St. Nicholas
happened to be in town, heard all about the family,
and decided to secretly help.
At night, he visited the house and found socks hanging
by the fireplace to dry.
Being the generous gift giver that he is,
Saint Nick dug deep into his pockets
and pulled out some coins, filling the socks.
But that's just one version of the story.
And like we said, as nice as it is, it's probably not true.
But however this strange stocking tradition got started,
it clearly caught on.
Kids were hanging a big sock by the fireplace
all across Europe, hoping for a gift from St. Nicholas.
The tradition did morph and change over time
in different areas.
Some places leave out shoes instead of stockings
on St. Nicholas Day, December 6, instead of Christmas Eve.
The shoes are left out with a bit of hay
for St. Nick's donkey.
And by morning, they're filled with treats and toys.
Whether it's hay in your shoes or milk and cookies
with the stocking, it all seems to be a variation
on the same tradition.
By the early 1800s, the custom of hanging
a stocking for Christmas had made it to the United States.
And people were already ditching their old dirty socks
in favor of fancy stockings designed specifically
for the season.
By the turn of the century, the plump,
oversized stockings covered in Christmas designs
that we know and love today was firmly in style.
Not only do big, specialized holiday stockings have way
more space for stuffing, but they look much nicer hanging
by the chimney with care.
So this year, remember--
it might seem weird to hang stockings,
but at least we've come a long way from getting gifts
in our dirty laundry.
[music playing]