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A parade float with a model of Santa's reindeer and sleigh, Toronto 2009 In traditional festive legend and popular culture, Santa Claus's reindeer are said to pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to children on Christmas Eve. The number of reindeer 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's 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, the work that is probably responsible for the reindeer becoming popularly known:[1] Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner (variously spelled Dunder and Donder) and Blitzen (variously spelled Blixen and Blixem).[note 1][3][4] The popularity of Robert L. May's 1939 storybook Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the 1949 Christmas song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" has 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[edit]Single reindeer[edit]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.[5][6] The names of the author and the illustrator are not known.[6] 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.[7] The illustration to the first verse features a sleigh with a sign saying "REWARDS" being pulled by an unnamed single reindeer. Eight reindeer[edit]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.[8] The eight reindeer, as they appeared in the first publication of Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas in 1823. The poem was first published in the Sentinel of Troy, New York 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).[9] The relevant part of the poem reads:
The eight reindeer, as they appeared in a handwritten manuscript of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore from the 1860s. Moore altered the names of the last two reindeer several times;[9] 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:
As printed in An American Anthology, 1787–1900, 6th impression between 1900 and 1909. When Edmund Clarence Stedman collected the poem in his An American Anthology, 1787–1900, he also used "Donder" and "Blitzen", italicising the names.[10] The modern German spelling of "Donner" came into use only in the early twentieth-century, well after Moore's death.[9] L. Frank Baum's ten reindeer[edit]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.[11] Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer[edit]Rudolph's story was originally written in verse by Robert L. May for the Montgomery Ward chain of department stores in 1939, and published as a book to be given to children in the store at Christmas time.[12] Appearances in popular media[edit]
Reindeer introduced after Rudolph[edit]In film[edit]
In music[edit]
In television[edit]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
Further reading[edit]
What are the names of the 10 reindeers?Nicholas, the work that is probably responsible for the reindeer becoming popularly known: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner (variously spelled Dunder and Donder) and Blitzen (variously spelled Blixen and Blixem).
Who is the fastest reindeer on Santa's sleigh?Dasher. Dasher gets his name because he is the fastest reindeer of the whole pack.
What is the order of Santa's reindeer?Santa's reindeer (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph) are arranged in two lines of four, with Rudolph leading with his red nose! Donner and Dancer are nearest to Santa's sleigh. Dasher is next to Prancer.
Which reindeer is Dasher?Dasher is a character in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie. He is the brother of Blitzen, Comet, and Cupid, the brother-in-law of Mitzi, the uncle of Rudolph and Arrow, and one of Santa's Flyers. Dasher is a character in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie.
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