Santa's Reindeer

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In 1822, Clement C. Moore, a classics professor at General Theological Society, wrote a poem for children entitled "A Visit From St. Nicholas. In this poem, Moore assigns eight flying reindeer to the task of pulling Santa's wooden sleigh. He gave the reindeer these names: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. "Donder" means thunder in Dutch and "Blitzen" means lightning in German. Moore may have been inspired by an image from from an old Norse mythology in which Thor, the thunder God, rides a flying chariot pulled by magical goats, Gnasher and Cracker. Maybe it's possible Moore put Santa and the exotic reindeer in order to suggest that Santa came from a remote land in the north known as"The North Pole." Moore has a vivid imagination and Santa and his reindeer remain a important part of Christmas for children and adults.

In 1939, Robert L. May, a employee, of Montgomery Ward, wrote a poem called "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." The store printed the poem and handed them out to children as a sales gimmick. Course, we all know the story of Rudolph. He had a red nose while all the other reindeer had black noses. Poor Rudolph was rejected by the other reindeer. One foggy Christmas Eve, Santa discovers the red shiny nose gave off enough light to sail through the foggy night skies. Rudolph becamre famous in books, songs and the animated show, Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer, is shown at Christmas time every year. It is a classic and I love it still even though I haven't been a kid in three decades. In addition, hundreds of Christmas knick knacks bear Rudolph's image. Christmas would be hard to imagine without Santa, his reindeer, Rudolph, Christmas trees, presents and the nativity scene surrounding Jesus's beautiful birth. As we all know, Jesus is the reason for the season. In spite of all the world's problem, let's celebrate Christmas and enjoy our traditions.

I got my information from the book: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTMAS BY TANYA GULEVICH. I got the book from Writer's Digest Book Club. The book is a great asset and it tells everything about Christmas from all around the world.



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