Each Christmas, children across America hang up their stockings for Santa to fill with toys and treats. The tradition has been going on for centuries and is practiced in many nations around the world.

The exact origins of the Christmas stocking tradition are unknown, but many historians point to a 16th-century Dutch tradition in which children would fill their clogs with a treat for Sinterklaas and hay for the donkey he rode from house to house. In turn, Sinterklaas would thank the children by filling their clogs with sweet treats or coal if they had been bad.

According to historians, the Dutch tradition may have stemmed from a legend involving a poor man and his marriage-age daughters. Upon the death of his wife, the man had lost much of wealth and could not provide the proper dowries for his daughters. Unable to marry, the daughters were very sad, and so was their father. Upon hearing of the family’s plight, St. Nick wanted to help, but he knew better than to offer the poor but proud man charity. Instead, he rode by the family’s house one day and tossed purses of gold down the chimney. The gold landed in the daughters’ stockings they had hung to dry by the fireplace. The family rejoiced and was very grateful to God and St. Nick.

Whatever the origins, the stocking tradition was cemented in print with the publication of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” in the 19th century. In the poem, “the stockings were hung by the chimney with care,/In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.” Recalling that scene, Thomas Nast created stockings hanging from the mantel in his illustrations for George Webster’s “Santa Claus and His Works” in 1886, reviving the stocking tradition.

Today, children across the world continue to hang stockings for Santa to fill, while others put out their shoes, hearkening back to the Dutch tradition. The children wake up on Christmas morning, eager to see what goodies the jolly old man has left them. Retailers help Santa out by running stocking-stuffer specials throughout the holiday season.