What do bad children get in their Christmas stocking?

What do bad children get in their Christmas stocking?

Bu the 16th century, the beast-like Krampus was created as a counterpart to St. Nick to punish naughty girls and boys – sometimes by leaving coal in their stockings! In Italian folklore, the witch La Befana would sneak into homes to leave gifts for good children and lumps of coal for bad ones.

What do Christmas stockings symbolize?

A Christmas stocking is an empty sock or sock-shaped bag that is hung on Saint Nicholas Day or Christmas Eve so that Saint Nicholas (or the related figures of Santa Claus and Father Christmas) can fill it with small toys, candy, fruit, coins or other small gifts when he arrives.

What will kids in the UK find in their Christmas stockings if they were bad?

In England, while the children of rich families got candy and toys in their stockings, those who were poor (believed to have been made poor by God, as punishment for their family’s bad deeds) would get coal, if they were lucky.

What happens when Santa puts too much coal in your stocking at Christmas?

A lump of coal in a stocking is the universal sign for a child being punished. It is well known that Santa brings presents to children who have been good throughout the year, and to the bad ones, he only gives a black rock.

What’s another name for Santa Claus?

Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts on Christmas Eve of toys and candy to well-behaved children, and either coal or nothing to naughty children.

What do they put in a Christmas stocking?

A Christmas stocking is an empty sock or sock-shaped bag that is hung on Saint Nicholas Day or Christmas Eve so that Saint Nicholas (or the related figures of Santa Claus and Father Christmas) can fill it with small toys, candy, fruit, coins or other small gifts when he arrives.

Why do people leave their stockings out at Christmas?

Leaving stockings out at Christmas goes back to the legend of St Nicholas. Known as the gift giver, on one occasion he sent bags of gold down a chimney at the home of a poor man who had no dowry for his unmarried daughters. The gold fell into stockings left hanging to dry.

How big is the biggest Christmas stocking in the world?

According to the Guinness World Records, the largest recorded Christmas stocking measured 51 m 35 cm (168 ft 5.65 in) in length and 21 m 63 cm (70 ft 11.57 in) in width (heel to toe) and was produced by a volunteer emergency services organisation in Carrara, Tuscany, Italy, on 5 January 2011.

Where did the tradition of putting Stockings in the stockings come from?

These stockings are traditionally used on Saint Nicholas Day although in the early 1800s, they also came to be used on Christmas Eve. An unsubstantiated claim is that the Christmas stocking custom derived from the Germanic/Scandinavian figure Odin. According to Phyllis Siefker, children would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw,…