I just remember older people telling me they used to get them, when they were younger?
2007-12-18 04:56:26 · 11 answers · asked by Beatlemaniac 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Chilling story.....
Ok, its an old wifes tale mind you.....
it was said that if you naughty in the year the lord sent angles down while you were sleeping to steal a small part of your soul and prissioned it in coal for burning to the unaware of the peson who had it, leaving them feeling empty till they did some good. the orange is a simble of the sun, the ruler and 1st creation from god... "let there be light" by eating the orange you in affect ate the goodness of the sun by god and was healthy for the next year.
However...
also been said that if u are naughty childern was given coal as a punishment replacement of toohpaste. !
orange was given due to the fact that it tastes good with a sugar cube in the middle.
and also......
in 1835 coal was given by the bagfull and seen as the best pressent ever, as most familys in that time couldnt afford coal and was offten cold in the winter, and oranges where the most cost effected.
depends on what you believe.
2007-12-18 05:07:11 · answer #1 · answered by hero_28@btinternet.com 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Oranges were luxuries. This was in the days when, of course, oranges were only grown in tropical regions and cost an inordinate amount of money to transport them ANYWHERE!
Pieces of coal were for "naughty" children who hadn't lived up to Santa's expectations over the course of the year.
My son still receives one of each every year - he's 17 - and yes, I AM a dinosaur. A dinosaur who believes, and follows, tradition. My brother and I received them in our stockings every year. Maybe because our parents lived through the Depression when oranges were rarely seen much less eaten by "average" folks here in the frozen North. They (sometimes) got oranges in THEIR stockings - back in the day when all you got was a stocking and everything was handmade.
He still laughs and enjoys receiving them. He eats the orange straight off and the coal gets re-wrapped (immediately as it's rather messy) and he gets it again the next year.
My heartfelt wish is that he will give HIS children oranges and coal. I'm rather certain he will.
P.S. He is NOT a geek and is really on my back for a Wii - even though they're unavailable. He has every electronic gadget known to man, basically pretty much every thing he wants.
But - if he doesn't get the orange and the coal - I hear about it!
2007-12-18 13:15:04 · answer #2 · answered by Sprouts Mom 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Certainly, so far as the orange was concerned, because it was a luxury. I was born in 1942, in England, so in the middle of the war. I was 5 or 6 before I even saw an orange (or, indeed a banana). I also had nuts in my stocking, but don't remember coal, or hearing of anyone who had this. It was too precious at the time to waste on kid's stockings!
About oranges - did you see the recent TV series 'Cranford' set in the 1840s? It showed how rare oranges were at that time - they didn't even know how they should be eaten!
2007-12-18 13:21:41 · answer #3 · answered by rdenig_male 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
An Orange was a rare treat many years ago, expensively imported.
Coal was useful to burn, but certainly no fun, and was reserved for those who had been bad.
My mother 'proudly' tells the tale of how she and her sister decided to put their Christmas stockings up again at New Years Eve...and got them filled with coal.
2007-12-18 13:06:39 · answer #4 · answered by glenn 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Never heard of a piece of coal in the Christmas stocking. This was usually carried by the first footer( first person to cross the threshold) on New Years Eve.
Although we did get an apple and orange in our stockings.
2007-12-18 13:08:04 · answer #5 · answered by firebobby 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It's a tradition mixed from other traditions as most things are with Christmas these days.
"First footing" is the original tradition of someone knocking on your door at the stroke of midnight new years' eve. The visitor must bring into the house a piece of fruit, coal and money, therefore ensuring that the home will be warm throughout the year and that there will be plenty of food and money in the year ahead.
2007-12-18 13:10:18 · answer #6 · answered by Time4AcuPPa 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Times were hard back then, maybe an orange and a piece of coal was something to really appreciate. Now we have terrys chocolate orange and firelighters.....
2007-12-18 13:00:16 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
that was a treat for them fruit was rare and coal was like gold, an extra piece of coal on the fire made life that bit easier.......simple pleasures that we all take for granted these days. merry christmas.xxxxxxxxx
2007-12-18 13:01:55 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
i still get an orange in my stocking...amongst other things. i dunno its probably family traditions and stuff that got passed down. i think orange season is in the winter and it usually had to be brought in from other parts of the world than you know England and most of the U.S. so it was kind of a treat perhaps? not sure really.
2007-12-18 13:22:32 · answer #9 · answered by M 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the coal was for luck you would spit on it and then throw it over your left shoulder. the orange was just to eat. couldn't afford sweats.
2007-12-18 13:23:50 · answer #10 · answered by Muriel L 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋