The snow-tex Christmas stockings
are 18 inches long that includes the 2 inch red hanger loop. This soft snow-tex Christmas stocking is decorated with red, green and gold lace trim. The stocking has a 3.75 inch white snow-tex cuff. The body of the stocking is made of Christmas red snow-tex fabric. Select this link to view all of our Christmas stockings.
Yule: The Olde Norse word jol representing the winter solstice celebration. It began 12 consecutive days of celebration for ending the old year and the beginning of the new.
Yule Log: Traditions around the Yule log:
The Yule log today is a chocolate cake rolled like a jelly roll.
Christmas Tinsel: From the French word sentinels meaning to sparkle. The English shortened it to tinsel where it became a kind of cloth made of silk or satin woven with strands of gold or silver. The legend is that spiders loved to decorate the ch4ristmas trees, but their cobwebs could only be seen from the ground, so they covered the entire tree with cobwebs. When the Christ child came to bless the tree, he touched the webs and they turned to silver.
Wassail: In the American Christmas tradition, Wassail relates directly to the Christmas punch bowl. From the English ritual of “Wassailing” or partying, we derive the festive atmosphere of our own Christmas parties. Originally an English drink related to the apple harvest, it quickly evolved into a mid winter ritual, with a great deal of noise made, to signal the partying to begin. From Olde English, o waes hael meaning “good health”.
Mincemeat: The word itself comes from Middle French nincer “to cut in small pieces”. These pies were originally called mutton pies made from lamb that represented the treasures of the Three Wise Men. They were baked in a loaf shape to resemble a manger.
Christmas carols: The Catholic Church valued music greatly and the early Christmas songs date from the 4th century. Mediaeval Christmas music followed the Gregorian tradition. In Renaissance Italy there emerged a lighter, more joyous kind of Christmas song, more like the true carols, from the French word caroler, meaning to dance in a ring. These songs continued to be religious
The most famous of all, Silent Night (Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht) was written by the Austrian parish priest Joseph Mohr and composed by Franz Gruber, church organist, in 1818. In 19th century and later many popular songs were written. The themes of songs surpassed religion and found its way to carol music.
Noel: Derived from Latin natalis means “day of birth” or “birthday”. In French it is an expression of joy. Commonly used during the Christmas season as a word for carol.
The Three Kings or Magi: An Indo German word meaning great or illustrious priestly scholars that specialized in science and astronomy. They came from Persia and were considered Wise Men because they were able to interpret dreams. They followed the Star of Bethlehem in search of the King of the Jews, and were the first gentiles to believe in Christ. It was believed that they came from an observatory at the Hill of Vaus, India. The three priests were named Melchior, who brought gold, a symbol of sovereignty. Gaspar, who brought Frankincense, a symbol of divinity and Balthazar, who brought myrrh, a symbol of humanity. In addition to the sight of the Star of Bethlehem as a sign of the Savior’s arrival, legend has it, at the midnight hour of Christ’s birth, an ostrich kept by Gaspar hatched two eggs, one yielding a lion and the other a lamb. Melchior had a bird fly into his garden and announce the birht of Christ in a human voice. To Balthazar was born a son with the power of speech fully developed. The child told that Jesus’s mother would be a virgin and that He would live for 33 year, while Balthazar’s son himself would only survive 33 days. Melchior died at 169 years of age on January 1. Balthazar at 149 on January 6 and Gaspar at 109 on January 11, all in the year 54 AD. They were originally interred at St. Sophia in Constantinople. After the 1st crusades, their remains were transferred to the Cathedral of Milan in 1164 AD. Emperor Barbarassa soon conquered Milan and transferred their relics to Cologne, where they rest today. Select this link to view our Christmas stockings.