In traditional festive legend and popular culture, Santa Claus's reindeer are said to pull a
sleigh
A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners s ...
through the night sky to help
Santa Claus
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...
deliver gifts to children on
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...
.
The number of
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...
characters, and the names given to them (if any) vary in different versions, but those frequently cited in the United States are the eight listed in
Clement Clarke Moore
Clement Clarke Moore (July 15, 1779 – July 10, 1863) was an American writer, scholar and real estate developer. He is best known as author of the Christmas poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas."
Moore was Professor of Oriental and Greek Literature ...
's 1823 poem ''
A Visit from St. Nicholas'', the work that is largely responsible for the reindeer becoming popularly known.
In the poem the reindeers' names are given as Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.
The popularity of
Robert L. May's 1939 storybook ''
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...
'', and
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...
's 1949 Christmas song "
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...
", resulted in Rudolph often being included as the ninth character.
Many other variations in reindeer names and number have appeared in fiction, music, film and TV.
Origins and history
Single reindeer
The first reference to Santa's sleigh being pulled by a reindeer appears in "
Old Santeclaus with Much Delight", an 1821 illustrated children's poem published in New York.
The names of the author and the illustrator are not known.
The poem, with eight colored
lithographic illustrations, was published by William B. Gilley as a small paperback book entitled ''The Children's Friend: A New-Year's Present, to the Little Ones from Five to Twelve''.
The illustration to the first verse features a sleigh with a sign saying "REWARDS" being pulled by an unnamed single reindeer.
Eight reindeer
The 1823 poem by
Clement C. Moore, ''
A Visit from St. Nicholas'' (also known as ''Twas the Night Before Christmas''), is largely credited for the modern Christmas lore that includes eight named reindeer.
The poem was first published in the ''Sentinel'' of
Troy, New York
Troy is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Huds ...
, on 23 December 1823. All eight reindeer were named, the first six being Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet and Cupid, and the final two "Dunder" and "Blixem" (meaning ''thunder'' and ''lightning'' in colloquial New York Dutch).
The relevant part of the poem reads:
Moore altered the names of the last two reindeer several times;
in an early 1860s version of the poem, written as a gift to a friend, they are named "Donder" and "Blitzen" (with revised punctuation and underlined reindeer names). The relevant part reads:
When
Edmund Clarence Stedman collected the poem in his ''An American Anthology, 1787–1900'', he also used "Donder" and "Blitzen", italicising the names.
The modern German spelling of "Donner" came into use only in the early twentieth-century, well after Moore's death.
L. Frank Baum's ten reindeer
L. Frank Baum's story ''
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus'' (1902) includes a list of ten reindeer, none of which match those in ''A Visit from St. Nicholas''. Santa's principal reindeer are Flossie and Glossie, and he gathers others named Racer and Pacer, Reckless and Speckless, Fearless and Peerless, and Ready and Steady.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph's story was originally written in verse by
Robert L. May
Robert L. May (July 27, 1905 – August 11, 1976) was an American retailer. He was best known for creating the fictional character Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Early life
Robert Lewis May was born in Arverne, Long Island, New York, and grew ...
for the
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curr ...
chain of
department stores
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appea ...
in 1939, and it was published as a book to be given to children in the store at
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
time.
Appearances in popular media
* ''
Miracle on 34th Street
''Miracle on 34th Street'' (initially released as ''The Big Heart'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1947 American Christmas comedy-drama film released by 20th Century Fox, written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davi ...
'' (1947) features the eight reindeer from ''A Visit from St. Nicholas.''
* "
Run Rudolph Run" (1958), recorded by
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
, is a popular
Christmas-rock song about Rudolph.
* ''
Prancer'', a 1989 film which tells of a young girl who finds an injured reindeer.
* ''Let's Go Dancing With Santa'' is a song by
KC & The Sunshine Band
KC and the Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Hialeah, Florida. Their best-known songs include the hits "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", " ...
featuring Santa and his reindeer.
See also
*
Christmas Mountains
* "
Dominick the Donkey
"Dominick the Donkey" is a Christmas song written by Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Wandra Merrell, and was recorded by Lou Monte in 1960, on Roulette Records. The song describes Dominick, a donkey who helps Santa Claus bring presents ("made in Br ...
"
Notes
References
Further reading
*
{{Authority control
Christian folklore
Christmas characters
Fictional deer and moose
Fictional organizations
Literary characters introduced in 1823
Reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...