What Does it Mean to Get a Lump of Coal in Your Stocking? | Christmas Central (2024)

FAQs

What Does it Mean to Get a Lump of Coal in Your Stocking? | Christmas Central? ›

By the 16th century, the beast-like Krampus was created as a counterpart to St. Nick to punish naughty girls and boys - sometimes by leaving coal in their stockings! In Italian folklore, the witch La Befana would sneak into homes to leave gifts for good children and lumps of coal for bad ones.

For much of the 1800s, coal was valued as an alternative to wood for home heating. In fact, a stocking full of coal might have been welcomed by some poorer families. Back then, children who didn't behave might have found their Christmas stockings filled with stones, sticks and even cold potatoes, instead of coal.

Dating back to the 9^th century, tradition states that in order to bring luck in the coming year the first visitor of the new year should be a tall, dark-haired man bringing gifts of salt, shortbread, whiskey and coal. Gifts of coal during wintertime ensure that you hearth will always be lit and your house warm.

Italian children know La Befana, the “Christmas witch,” leaves toys and candy for good children, while bad children get lumps of coal. Misbehaving Dutch and German children are warned of the Krampus, a scary sort of “anti Santa” who leaves coal for Christmas instead of presents.

In theatre superstition, standing on stage and throwing a piece of coal into the gallery is meant to ensure a successful future for a new theatre. Finding a piece of coal on the ground is supposed to be lucky. Pick it up, spit on it and throw it over your left shoulder as you make a wish.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, coal was commonly burned to heat homes, so when Santa Claus came to visit, it was convenient to grab a lump to leave for children on his "naughty" list. Of course, Santa would never give children lumps of coal for Christmas... unless they asked for it!

Dogs in a coal mine — someone's going to die. If mice or rats run out of a mine, there's going to be a cave in — someone's going to die. A white rat in a coal mine was a sign of a coming accident — someone's going to die. It's pretty easy to see how the superstitions arose.

Most of all, coal was equated with honest jobs for hard-working miners (and voters) — never mind that mechanization and efficiency had been killing off mining jobs since the early 1900s.

Lump coal will burn hotter but quicker than briquettes, so the burn time is shorter. Ensure you get lump charcoal double-sieved, so you're not paying for something messy and can't burn.

She enters through the chimney and leaves treats for well-behaved children but reaches into the fireplace to give a lump of coal to the naughty children. The coal will remind them to behave better in the next year.

What does a lump of coal symbolize? ›

In the bad old days, it signified the dark side of parental judgment. Good kids got something pleasant like candy or a toy. Bad kids got a lump of coal. It was a punishment designed to send a strong message, but in my case it might have backfired.

Is it a biblical idiom? At Christmas children hang up stockings to receive presents from Santa Claus, and a lump of coal is according to tradition what he leaves for naughty children.

An ember, also called a hot coal, is a hot lump of smouldering solid fuel, typically glowing, composed of greatly heated wood, coal, or other carbon-based material. Embers (hot coals) can exist within, remain after, or sometimes precede, a fire. Embers are, in some cases, as hot as the fire which created them.

Lucky coal

In northern England and Scotland, 'first footers' are the first visitors to a household in the new year and bring luck with a number of gifts that include a lump of coal. Chimney sweeps are also considered to be lucky, especially if you see one on your wedding day!

In 2 Samuel 22:9, David describes God with burning coals in his mouth. Burning coals in the text are a metaphor for the presence of God. In Proverbs 25:21-22, it says,” if you are kind to your enemy, you are heaping burning coals on his head”.

coal ball, a lump of petrified plant matter, frequently spheroid, found in coal seams of the Upper Carboniferous Period (from 325,000,000 to 280,000,000 years ago). Coal balls are important sources of fossil information relating to the forests preceding the Coal Age.

Coal contains the energy stored by plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago in swampy forests. Layers of dirt and rock covered the plants over millions of years. The resulting pressure and heat turned the plants into the substance we call coal.

Just like a charcoal water filter, charcoal briquettes can be used to absorb moisture and remove odor from the air in your home.

Sources of Coal Dust At Surface Coal Mines

At surface mines, drilling, blasting, and crushing are the major sources of coal dust. Operation of heavy equipment such as loaders, shovels, dozers, draglines, and haul trucks also produces dust.