Stockings
Children hang up stockings on Christmas Eve hoping to find them filled with presents on Christmas morning.
Jingle Bells
Origin
The origin of hanging Christmas stockings comes to us from southern Europe.
It is said that St Nicholas threw gifts down chimneys as he passed by. Those items would fall into the stockings that were hung at the bottom of the chimney to dry.
Did you know?
The exchanging of gifts between people started in about the 1800’s.
The tradition of gifts seems to have started with the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus – gold, frankincense and myrrh.
See if you can remember the meaning of these gifts from day 4. Then check your answers by clicking on each word:
Gold – the Kingship of Jesus Christ
Gold is very valuable. To find gold you have to dig underground, which would have been difficult in Bible days.
Gold is a symbol of ‘kingship’. Although Jesus was only a baby the wise men knew that he was Christ the King.
Frankincense – the divinity of Jesus Christ
Frankincense is made by cutting a tree named ‘Arbor Thurisfrom’ found in Persia, Arabia and India. It’s like a sap that is gathered and then dried for 3 months and becomes like a hardened resin or gum.
Frankincense was normally burned during worship as an offering to God. So this gift shows Jesus is a divine King.
Myrrh – the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ
Myrrh is a bitter perfume and was used to embalm the dead because it had the property to preserve.
Myrrh represents the bitter cup that Christ had to drink in suffering for our sins and the healing for us that his death brings.
The wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus – they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh.
The Bible says
Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.””
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.