Socking it on Christmas Day

Chrstmas and Culture -2

Christmas stockings are part and parcel of Christmas, and it was always fun to wake up on Christmas Day at my grandparents home in Calcutta to find Christmas stockings filled with fruits, nuts and lots of small inexpensive stuff that seven year olds love.

The tradition comes from the legend of Saint Nicholas, who once slipped some gold coins into the socks of some poor maidens who had left them near the fireside to dry. These girls were too poor to have a dowry, and so Good Saint Nick helped them out. Saint Nicholas was a good Bishop who lived in the 4th Century.

In about 1823, somebody wrote 'The Night before Christmas', and there you have it - The people of America picked up this old British Tradition of Father Christmas filling up kids' stockings by the fireside, and now we even have speciallly designed stockings by Coca Cola, pre-filled, so that Santa Caus can drop them off at your apartment.

The fun of Christmas is Giving. And it's great fun planning what to put inside empty stockings that would put a smile on kids' faces. A couple of walnuts, a hanky or two, a shiny apple, a funky looking scented eraser, a crazy ball, a fistful of toffees or similar stuff can light up any kid's face with a special smile.

Last year, somebody sent me an e-mail which said that High Caste Christians in India [read  'of European descent']  should avoid hanging up Christmas stockings because  ' your North Indian neighbours may find it strange'. Bah! Humbug! I say. Let the North Indians keep Christmas  their own way, and I'll keep it  mine!