A lump of coal for Christmas - Santa myths

chic

chic

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When I was little, my parents told me if I was naughty, Santa would put a lump of coal in my Christmas stocking instead of presents. I absolutely believed them, (though I shouldn't have because it was the '60's and nobody even used coal anymore). :p

I never met anyone who's parents were so strict they received a lump of coal for Christmas. Did that ever happen to you? To anyone you knew? What other Santa myths did you parents tell you so they could control your behavior? Or what Santa stories did you hear about? :confused:
 

I was always such a sweet, wonderful child growing up that I didn't have to be threatened with coal or onions from Santa........yea right. :rolleyes:

BTW.....coal was still be used for heating back in the 60's and very well may be today in some parts of the U.S.

I was sent to live at my uncle's small hog and tobacco farm in Kentucky about 1965 when I was around 15 because I was getting into a lot of trouble.....they thought he could work some of the meanness out of me.....it didn't work :).

Anyway, he and several other people I knew there still bought and used coal to heat with and I'd be willing to bet that some families still are.
 

Nope not threatened with anything....because we got hardly anything at all at Christmas anyway...but I agree with laurie , coal is deemed to be lucky in Scotland, and it's important for the first person to step over your threshold on new Years day, to be carrying a lump of coal , some black bun ( or some type of small food) , a drink ( usually whisky) and some salt...it's all symbolic and means prosperity, warmth. food, good cheer and wealth for the next year.

It's also important that the first person over your threshold after the ''bells'' should be a dark haired male for luck.


It's not commonly known but Christmas was not celebrated as a festival and was virtually banned in Scotland for around 400 years, from the end of the 17th century to the 1950s.

The reason was due to the years of Protestant Reformation, when the Scottish Presbyterian Kirk ( Scottish church) proclaimed Christmas as a Catholic feast, and therefore needed to be banned . And so , right up until the 1950s most Scots did not celebrate Christmas as a holiday or a time to give gifts and worked over Christmas but then celebrated their winter solstice holiday at New Year when everyone would gather for a party and to exchange presents and this period became known as Hogmanay ( new years eve)...therefore when I was growing up, and even to this day Scotland makes much more of a celebration of New Years eve..(Hogmany) where many people have a week off work , than it does Christmas Day .
 
Threatened with no visit from Santa I had to try and shape up at the beginning of December every year until I joined the service...
 
We were never threatened about getting anything for Christmas if we were naughty, but there always a lump of coal in our Christmas stockings, this was to bring us luck.........having an English mother and a Scottish father we enjoyed both traditions.
 
"And so , right up until the 1950s most Scots did not celebrate Christmas as a holiday or a time to give gifts and worked over Christmas "

That's true. I first came to Scotland in 1957 (and I'm still an incomer!) and Christmas Day was not even a holiday.
 
Laurie said:
"And so , right up until the 1950s most Scots did not celebrate Christmas as a holiday or a time to give gifts and worked over Christmas "

That's true. I first came to Scotland in 1957 (and I'm still an incomer!) and Christmas Day was not even a holiday.
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I was a baby when you first arrived in Scotland then Laurie.:D..and I think I was about 10 before I realised that there was such a thing as Christmas, and we got an orange and an apple on Christmas day put into one of my fathers' socks at the end of our beds... it wasn't until I was in my early teens that my younger siblings started to get something more in the way of toys by which time we were getting into the 70's ...but still we didn't really celebrate Christmas...always it was all about , Hogmany!!...everyone looked forward to it all year!! :D
 
The celebration of Christmas was banned in Boston from 1659-1681 by the Puritans. Christmas day was to be observed with fasting and sober reflections on one's sins. It was a criminal offense to sing, decorate or otherwise enjoy oneself. I imagine under the Puritan regime that it was pretty easy to not enjoy oneself.

Now we often spend the day after Christmas reflecting on our overindulgence and the Ghost of Future Credit Card Payments.
 
hollydolly said:
... It's also important that the first person over your threshold after the ''bells'' should be a dark haired male for luck.
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That's interesting, Holly - we had a next-door neighbor when I was growing up, I believe she was some mix of Polish and Irish, and every New Years she'd come over to our door, grab me and frog-march me through her front door, while having me carry some food in one hand and a glass of some kind of liquid (I later found out it was Scotch) in the other hand. I'd have cookies and milk, then she'd let me go home.

I never understood the ritual but the cookies were home-made. :D
 
OH yes that's the ritual Phil...as soon as you (the first footer) come through the door..you get something to eat ( usually always home-made) and a drink and then you can leave..or stay for the festivities, most people stay...but the superstition was so strong in Scotland when I was growing up, that if someone ( a female) left the house to collect a man to 'first foot' as in your case..then they would have to leave the house before midnight..and then be the second person to enter the house after the bells had struck :D It was deemed to be extremely unlucky for a female to be first over the threshold after midnight
 
Thank you all for those lovely stories of Scottish tradition where a lump of coal is like a good luck charm. Growing up in the Northeast U.S. in the '60s, the only place I remember seeing coal was charcoal briquettes spread under the grill in the summertime. Shrimp on the barbie anyone???
 
I grew up when watching the coal go down the chute was a childhood pastime. I was never threatened with receiving it. With my Mom? :rofl1: After we were married, one of us once gave the other a lump of coal in their stocking with some comment about liking naughty. :devil:
 
It's very sad but I'll share with you. My in-laws were a bit over the top with discipline from what I understand. And yes one year hubby got coal over presents. Must have been devastating with three younger siblings. But he got presents for his BIRTHDAY DEC.31st, still that is a way crappy thing to do to a kid.
 
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