Hanging a stocking on Christmas Eve feels like one of those traditions that has always been there. In fact, the British Christmas stocking as most of us know it is mostly a Victorian habit, built on a much older story and shaped along the way by poems, newspapers and, later, by rationing. Here is how it came together, with the caveat that much of the early history is legend rather than record.
The legend of St Nicholas
The usual starting point is St Nicholas, a bishop of Myra in what is now Turkey, who lived in the fourth century. Very little is known about him for certain, but many stories grew up around his generosity. The best known tells of a poor man with three daughters who could not afford dowries for them. Nicholas, wanting to help without being seen, threw bags or balls of gold through the window, or in some versions down the chimney, at night. In the versions that matter for stockings, the gold landed in stockings that had been hung by the fire to dry.
It is a legend, and it was told and retold in many forms across Europe over the following centuries. But it gave us three things that are still part of the stocking tradition: a secret night time visitor, gifts left by the fireplace, and the idea of gold or something golden in the toe.
Shoes, clogs and stockings across Europe
In much of Europe, St Nicholas was celebrated on his feast day, 6 December, rather than at Christmas. In the Netherlands, children traditionally left shoes out for Sinterklaas. Similar customs with shoes or clogs existed in other countries. The stocking hung at the fireplace is close kin to these, and it is likely that the British and American versions grew from a mix of these traditions rather than from a single source.
Father Christmas before Santa
England had its own figure, Father Christmas, long before Santa Claus arrived. He was originally a personification of the season itself, a jolly, adult figure associated with feasting and good cheer, rather than a gift bringer for children. Over the nineteenth century, as Christmas became more of a family and child centred festival, Father Christmas gradually took on the gift giving role and merged with the American Santa Claus. Today most people in Britain use the two names interchangeably.
A poem and a fireplace
One of the biggest influences on the modern stocking came from America. In 1823, a poem called "A Visit from St. Nicholas", now usually known by its first line, "'Twas the night before Christmas", was published anonymously in New York. It was later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore. The poem describes stockings "hung by the chimney with care" and St Nicholas filling them before going back up the chimney. It was widely reprinted on both sides of the Atlantic, and it fixed the image of stockings at the fireplace in the popular imagination.
The Victorians make it a family tradition
The Victorian period is when Christmas in Britain started to look familiar. Christmas trees became fashionable after an illustration of the royal family around a tree appeared in the Illustrated London News in 1848. Christmas cards, crackers and carol singing all grew in popularity in the same era. Christmas crackers are usually credited to a London confectioner, Tom Smith, in the 1840s.
Hanging a stocking fitted neatly into this new, home centred Christmas. It was cheap, it did not need a tree or a special room, and it gave children something to wake up to. For many families, the stocking was the main present, and it would have contained simple things: fruit, nuts, a small toy, perhaps a coin.
Why is there an orange in the toe?
Ask a grandparent what was in their stocking and an orange or tangerine will very likely be on the list. There are two explanations, and both are probably part of the truth. One is the link to St Nicholas and his gold: an orange is round, golden and a good stand in for a ball of gold. The other is practical. For a long time, citrus fruit in an English December was a genuine treat, imported and relatively expensive for many households. A whole orange was special in a way it is hard to imagine now.
Many families still put a satsuma or clementine in the toe. It is cheap, it fills the awkward bottom of the stocking, and it is a nice link to a century or more of tradition.
Rationing and make do
During and after the Second World War, rationing shaped stockings for years. Sweets were rationed in Britain until 1953, so a stocking might contain homemade gifts, knitted items, a few precious sweets saved up, or small wooden toys. Many people who grew up in that period remember stockings as modest and treasured, which is perhaps why "a stocking with an orange and a few nuts" is still shorthand for an old fashioned Christmas.
From pillowcases to personalised stockings
Through the second half of the twentieth century, stockings grew. Some families moved to pillowcases or sacks, which held more, and the contents shifted towards shop bought toys and sweets. More recently there has been a turn back towards smaller, more thoughtful stockings, and towards the stocking itself as a keepsake, often personalised with a name and brought out every year.
That swing back is part of why we started this site. Plenty of people want a stocking that feels like the old idea, a handful of small, good things, without the plastic and the waste that bigger stockings can bring.
Keeping a bit of history in your stocking
If you like the idea of a nod to tradition, a few easy touches work well:
- A satsuma or clementine in the toe.
- A small bag of nuts in shells, for adults or older children without nut allergies.
- Traditional sweets, such as a jar of boiled sweets or sherbet lemons from A Quarter Of.
- A classic card game, such as Waddingtons playing cards or Happy Families.
- A chocolate coin or two, the closest modern relative of St Nicholas's gold.
Our grandparents under £5 guide is full of nostalgic sweets and games. For little ones, see 4 to 7 year olds under £10 and babies under £10, where traditional wooden and soft toys still do very well.