Tag: Reindeer

Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer? Their names 1st appeared in a poem almost 200 years ago! In 1823, the poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in the Troy, N.Y. Sentinel. While people have long thought that Clement Moore was the author of this poem, which ultimately became “Twas the Night Before Christmas”, lately, the thought is that a Dutch New Yorker named Henry Livingston wrote the poem.

Why is that, you might ask?

Well, in the original poem, the names of two of the reindeer were DUNDER and BLIXEM, which are the Dutch words for Thunder and Lightning. However, Clement Moore was German, and when he reprinted the poem in 1844, he changed those names to DONNER and BLITZEN, which are the German words for Thunder and Lightning.

So there you have it!

Now Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On Comet! On Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen!

And of course, Rudolph, but his is a story for another time! Ho, ho ho!!!