World News for Students of English

22-12-2022 15:00

The tradition of the Christmas stocking likely began with the legend of Saint Nicholas.

A man lived with three daughters, but the family was too poor, and the girls couldn’t get married. One night, Nicholas dropped a bag of gold down the family’s chimney, and the gold fell into a stocking that was hanging near the fire. The oldest daughter could get married because she had enough money.

The next year, the same gift came to the second daughter, and the third year, Nicholas gave the gift to the youngest daughter. Then the legend of Saint Nicholas started.

At Christmas, people hang stockings by the fireplace or on the wall. In some countries, people put an orange or tangerine in the stocking as a symbol of gold. In other countries, people leave shoes by the fireplace or at the door, and others put gifts inside.

Difficult words: tradition (an action that people do for a long time without change), legend (a story from the past which many people know, but nobody knows if it is real), chimney (a structure inside a house which removes a fire’s smoke to outside the house).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.