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| 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.
