Reindeer 101

Since horses are not a common symbol for the holidays, we wanted to take a closer look at our hoofed friends, the reindeer.

Photo by Medieval Karl

Reindeers first appeared as Santa’s sidekick in 1821 in The Children’s Friend: A New Year’s Present, to Little Ones from Five to Twelve.  In this early emergence, Santa only had one lone reindeer pulling his sleigh.

The number of reindeers helping Santa out increased to eight in the poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” by Clement Clarke Moore. 

In this poem, we learn the names of the reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen. One famous reindeer has not yet been included: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Rudolph first appeared in 1939 in a promotional giveaway for Chicago’s Montgomery Ward department store, created by Robert Lewis May. He created a story about a rejected reindeer that Santa would turn to on Christmas Eve. Before deciding on the name Rudolph, Rollo and Reginald were considered.

Rudolph’s song was written by Johnny Marks and performed by Gene Autry in 1949, selling two million copies in its first year.

Today in Canada, the eight reindeers and the addition of Rudolph has stuck in most popular culture. Other countries have tried substitutes such as Australia’s use of six white boomers, Louisiana’s alligators and red-nosed werewolf, and the Netherland’s tall white horse.

(Source: The World Encyclopedia of Christmas by GerryBowler)