Medieval legend says that St Nicholas saved three daughters of a poor man from lives of shame by dropping bags of gold into their stockings. From this came the tradition of setting out a stocking or shoe during the Christmas season for the Gift-Bringer to fill it with treats and presents. Given Santa Claus’s usual means of entry, the fireplace was the logical location to hang up one’s stocking, as can be seen in Clement Moore’s 1821 “A Visit from Saint Nicholas”:
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,/ And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,/ And laying his finger aside of his nose,/ And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
However, placing a stocking by the window, at the foot of one’s bed or by the family crèche also have their supporters. For a time, after the middle of the nineteenth century, the stocking was eclipsed by the Christmas tree as the place to find one’s presents but in many families the two have long coexisted with small presents and candies being put in the stocking and larger gifts ending up under the tree.
In England and in British Commonwealth countries such as South Africa or Australia, it is customary for a pillow-case to serve as a stocking. In some areas the receptacle is called a “Santa Sack.”