The festive period isn’t all smiling Santas and seasonal goodwill. Some of our oldest stories and traditions have rather grim origins. Simon Heptinstall reveals all
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.
Since then, this strange legend of generosity has wafted west from the Middle East, transforming into a staple of the British family Christmas. The coins St Nicholas threw are even preserved and transformed across the ages as chocolate coins, millions of which are consumed every Christmas. Oranges in the stockings are said to represent St Nick’s gold.
The dark origins of the stocking tradition were obscured by Christian and Victorian moralities, but many of the early tales and traditions we associate with Christmas were equally dark. Here are some of the grimmer origins of our oldest festive customs…
THE HOLLY AND THE IVY
What could better symbolise the natural joy of Christmas than shiny holly with its red berries decking the halls, adorning Christmas cards and brightening door wreaths?
As ever, however, there’s a slightly darker root to the veneration of these two evergreens. Druids and Celts filled homes with evergreens because their ability to retain leaves despite cold weather was thought to signify a mystical power to overcome the monstrous forces of winter. This evergreen superpower would ensure the eventual return of spring.
Christians adapted this tradition to their own narrative. Prickly holly was said to signify Christ’s crown of thorns, crimson berries his blood. Anything evergreen was permitted – it was simply a symbol of eternal life.
• The Victorian garden at Tyntesfield, Somerset, is a great place to see winter holly. nationaltrust.org
