Give those Reindeer some love!

[Lucy]

At DO:

Yaay, to CookieLover for believing in a mixed fleet I shall turn people!

[Dark One]

I forgot to mention this before, but two of the reindeer names are wrong.

The Story Of Donner and Blitzen ?

Two of Santa's reindeer were named 'Donner' and 'Blitzen.'are wrongly named!

If you can recite the names of Santa's eight reindeer you probably do it by recalling the first few lines of the 1949 song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".
The Song lists the reindeer as follows"

You know Dasher and Dancer,
and Prancer and Vixen;
Comet and Cupid,
and Donner and Blitzen
Although most people don't realizes it, two of those names are wrong, at least when compared to the work that added eight individually named reindeer to the Santa Claus legend: "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," first published in 1823.

The most common version of this poem reads as follows:

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name.

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! on, Cupid! on Donder and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! Now, dash away! dash away! dash away all!

Two of the reindeer's name are wrong even in The poem.

The Reindeer names were taken by Dutchman from a common Dutch exclamation of the time, "Dunder and Blixem!" (the Dutch words for "thunder" and "lightning,").

These are the names that appeared in the original 1823 publication of "A Visit from Saint Nicholas":

"Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now!
Prancer, and Vixen,
On! Comet, on! Cupid, on!
Dunder and Blixem
In 1837, Charles Fenno Hoffman made several alterations to "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," including changing 'Blixem' to 'Blixen' (to make it rhyme with 'Vixen') and 'Dunder' to 'Donder' (for reasons unknown).

When Clement Clarke Moore prepared "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" for publication in his own 1844 book of verse, if he was not the true author these two names may have sounded odd to him (in part because he knew German but not Dutch). He therefore may have rechristened one of the reindeer 'Blitzen' (after the German word for 'lightning') and retained Hoffman's change of 'Dunder' to 'Donder.'

Moore's 1844 version of the poem is the one that became the standard and established 'Donder' and 'Blitzen' as the names of two of Santa' reindeer in the memories of generations of children!

Also:

Rudolph's Secret Past


Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer was not one of Santa's original reindeer in "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Moore!

Rudolph was created by Robert May for Montgomery Ward Department Stores in 1939.

Rudolph became a Christmas favorite when Gene Autry
recorded the hit song "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" in 1949

[Dark One]

On the subject or male/female reindeer:

According to the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Reindeer FAQ, it is true that only female reindeer retain their antlers much past the beginning of winter:

Reindeer and caribou are the only deer (Cervidae) where males, females, and calves produce antlers. Substantial growth of calf and female antler can be obtained with good nutrition. Some females can grow small shovels (eye-guards), normally grown only by bulls. Like other deer, reindeer shed their antlers annually. Bulls drop their antlers by January, and pregnant cows and calves retain theirs until spring. Normally, pregnant cows retain their antlers a week or so after calving for advantage over food resources. New antler growth in the spring and summer is nourished by a highly vascular covering called velvet which is shed in August. Bull antler hardens (ossifies) in June and cow antler in July. The primary function of antler is for gaining social dominance.

So, are Santa's reindeer really all female, even though some of them bear masculine names such as "Rudolph" and are often depicted with male personalities and voices? Well, it's not impossible that a male reindeer could retain his antlers as late as December 24, just not necessarily the norm. And that's not nearly as unusual as a fellow who lives at the North Pole, spends the year making toys for millions of children all over the world, and manages to deliver all of them in a single evening. If Santa could find a way to make reindeer fly, his coming up with a way to ensure the bulls kept their antlers until late December must have been a piece of cake.

So, it looks like they may all be male afterall...

[deb]

I'm going for the half and half option.then I can believe that the ofspring of the original reindeer have been passed the family names and the family job. cheers

[Dragon]

Well its abvious the reindeer werent created for more scientific analysis.

..... each to their own, all opinions stand

[DragonRider/Robin]

Go the MACHINE!!!!!