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Who is this reindeer named Rudolf?
...who guides Santa's sleigh with the biological aberration of a red, glowing nose capable of penetrating thick fog?
The whole story of Rudolf appeared, out of nowhere, in 1939. Santas at Montgomery Ward stores gave away 2.4 million copies of a booklet entitled "Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer." The story was written by a person in the advertising department named Robert May, and the booklet was illustrated by Denver Gillen. The original name of the reindeer was not Rudolf, according to the book "Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things," by Charles Panati. The original name was Rollo, but executives did not like that name, nor Reginald. The name Rudolf came from the author's young daughter! In 1949, Gene Autry sang a musical version of the poem and it was a run-away best-seller. The Rudolf song is second only to "White Christmas" in popularity.
Who is this Santa Claus person?
• Why is Santa characterized as a short, fat and jolly pipe smoker?
• Why does Santa wear such outlandish clothes?
• Why does he ride around in a sleigh? Pulled by reindeer? That lands on rooftops? So he can climb down the chimney? With a big sack full of toys? Which he leaves under the tree for good girls and boys?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Santa Claus started with a real person, Saint Nicholas, a minor saint from the fourth century.
It is amazing but true that the common, popular view of Santa that we all have today, along with all the crazy things around Santa like the sleigh, the reindeer and the chimney, all came largely from two publishing events that occurred in the 1800s and one advertising campaign in this century. Clement Moore wrote "The Night Before Christmas" in 1822 for his family. It was picked up by a newspaper, then reprinted in magazines and it spread like wildfire. Moore admitted authorship in 1838. If you read the poem you will find that he names the reindeer, invents the sleigh, comes up with the chimney and the bag of toys, etc. Nearly everyone in America has been able to recognize or recite this poem since the 1830s.
Then, between 1863 and 1886, Harper's Weekly (a popular magazine of the time) ran a series of engravings by Thomas Nast. From these images come the concepts of Santa's workshop, Santa reading letters, Santa checking his list and so on. Coca-Cola also played a role in the Santa image by running a set of paintings by Haddon Sundblom in its ads between 1931 to 1964.
The red and white suit came, actually, from the original Saint Nicholas. Those colors were the colors of the traditional bishop's robes.
See also A Brief History of Santa for a good set of Santa pictures.
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
by Clement Clarke Moore
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was ___________, not even a mouse;
The stockings were ___________ by the chimney with care,
In ___________ that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were ___________ all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums ___________ in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my ___________,
Had just settled down for a long winter's ___________,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I ___________ from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a ___________,
Tore open the ___________ and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-___________ snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects ___________,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature ___________, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so ___________ and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More ___________ than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them ___________ name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the ___________! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild ___________ fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, ___________ to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they ___________,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a ___________, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little ___________.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the ___________ St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in ___________, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all ___________ with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had ___________ on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his ___________ how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a ___________!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a ___________,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held ___________ in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a ___________;
He had a broad face and a little round ___________,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was ___________ and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in ___________ of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to ___________;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the ___________; then turned with a jerk,
And ___________ his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he ___________;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a ___________,
And away they all ___________ like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of ___________,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."
Why do Christmas carolers walk around the neighborhood singing?
According to this page:
In the Middle Ages in England and France, carols were dances accompanied by singing. In the French Midi, for example, the "carol" was a kind of round dance. In time, the word "carol" changed its meaning, referring only to certain kinds of songs. The Anglo-Saxon tradition favoured gathering together small choirs on the village green to sing carols and Christmas songs for the pleasure of passers-by. A number of currently very popular American Christmas carols come directly from France and England.
What, exactly, are the 12 days of Christmas?
The 12 days of Christmas are the 12 days that separate Christmas day on December 25 from Epiphany, which is celebrated January 6. Depending on the church, January 6 may mark Christ's baptism (the Catholic tradition), or it may mark the day that the wise men visited the baby Jesus with their gifts.
In the past, there was a tradition of giving gifts throughout the 12 days, rather than stacking them all up on the morning of December 25. That tradition, as you might imagine, has never really caught on in America! We just aren't that patient. The song, however, demonstrates that some people once stretched out their gifts (and gave some fairly elaborate gifts...) over the full 12 days.
Drennon's Twelve Days of Christmas offers some interesting perspectives on the 12 days of Christmas and the song of that same title. This page also contains a thesis full of information!
Why do I keep hearing the same songs over and over again?
There is a set of songs that are played continuously during the Christmas season. Here's a pretty complete list:
• Away In A Manger
• Carol Of The Bells
• Deck The Halls
• God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
• Jingle Bells
• Joy To The World
• Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
• Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
• I'll Be Home For Christmas
• It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
• Little Drummer Boy
• O Come All Ye Faithful
• O Holy Night
• O, Little Town of Bethlehem
• O Tannenbaum
• Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer
• Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
• Silent Night
• Silver Bells
• The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
• The First Noel
• The Twelve Days of Christmas
• We Wish You A Merry Christmas
• What Child Is This?
• White Christmas
• Winter Wonderland
Since this list is so short, you tend to hear each song about 700 times over the course of the few weeks leading up to Christmas.
Why are there oversized socks hanging on your mantel?
According to a very old tradition, the original Saint Nicholas (see the section on Santa) left his very first gifts of gold coins in the stockings of three poor girls who needed the money for their wedding dowries. The girls had hung their stockings by the fire to dry. See this page for a version of this story. Up until lately, it was traditional to receive small items like fruit, nuts and candy in your stocking, but these have been replaced in the last half-century by more expensive gifts in many homes.
According to this page, the tradition of a lump of coal in the stockings of naughty children comes from Italy.
Why is there a small evergreen tree in your living room?
This is a German tradition, started as early as 700 A.D. In the 1800s the tradition of a Christmas tree was widespread in Germany, then moved to England and then to America through Pennsylvanian German immigrants.
Why do people give each other presents on Christmas day?
The tradition of gifts seems to have started with the gifts that the wise men (the Magi) brought to Jesus. As recounted in the Bible's book of Matthew, "On coming to the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh."
As mentioned in the previous question, however, no one was really in the habit of exchanging elaborate gifts until late in the 1800s. The Santa Claus story (described later), combined with an amazing retailing phenomenon that has grown since the turn of the century, has made gift giving a central focus of the Christmas tradition.
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