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Among the most outstanding Christmas stories we find Santa Claus, a character who lives in the North Pole and who receives letters from every child in the world to finally decide if these children have behaved well throughout the year and whether they deserve it or not receive your gifts. But when did this tradition begin? Who is Santa Claus? And why did you choose Reindeer and not horses to deliver gifts to children?
At PeritoAnimal we want to relive the legend a little and try to understand the meaning of the Christmas reindeer. We don't want to demystify anything, but rather get to know these noble animals that work on December 24th. Read on and find out all about Santa's reindeer.
Santa Claus, the protagonist
Santa Claus, Santa Claus or Santa Claus, all over the world is known by different names, but the story is always the same.
In the fourth century, a boy named Nicolas de Bari was born in a city in Turkey. He was known since childhood for his kindness and generosity towards poor children or those with fewer resources, considering that he was born into a very wealthy family. At the age of 19, he lost his parents and inherited a large fortune that he decided to donate to the needy and followed the path of the priesthood with his uncle.
Nicolás dies on December 6th of the year 345 and due to the proximity of the Christmas date, it was decided that this saint was the perfect image to distribute gifts and sweets to children. He was named patron saint of Greece, Turkey and Russia.
The name of Santa Claus arises from the name in German with which San Nikolaus is recognized. The tradition was growing in Europe around the 12th century. But arriving in the year 1823, an English writer, Clement Moore, wrote the famous poem "A visit from St. Nicholas" where he perfectly describes Santa Claus crossing the skies in a sleigh pulled by his nine reindeer to distribute the gifts in time.
But the United States was not far behind, in 1931 they commissioned a famous soft drink brand to make a caricature of this elderly man, depicted in a red suit, belt and black boots.
Nowadays, the story centers on a Santa Claus who lives at the North Pole along with his wife and a group of goblins that manufacture the toys throughout the year. When it comes 24 at night, Santa Claus puts all the toys in a bag and assembles his sleigh to distribute the presents on each Christmas tree.
Christmas reindeer, more than a simple symbol
To know the meaning of the Christmas reindeer, we must continue to investigate these magical creatures that drag Santa's sleigh. They have magical powers and are flying. They are born thanks to the poem we mentioned earlier by the writer Moore, who only gave life to eight of them: the four on the left are female (Comet, Acrobat, Throne, Brioso) and the four on the right are male (Cupid, Lightning, Dancer, Playful) .
In 1939, after the short story by Robert L. Mays entitled "Christmas Story" gives life to a ninth reindeer named Rudolph (Rodolph) who would be situated in front of the sleigh and has a white color. But his tale would be closely related to a Scandinavian legend where the God Odín had an 8-legged white horse that took Santa Claus with his helper, Black Peter, to distribute gifts. The stories merged and the 8 reindeers were born. It is also said that the goblins are responsible for caring for and feeding the reindeer. They divide the time between the production of gifts and the reindeer.
Although let's say they are magical creatures, which fly, are also flesh-and-blood animals, magical, but not flying. They are of vital importance in Arctic peoples where they perform very diverse tasks. They are part of indigenous communities and help to keep them warm and connected with the rest of the world.
They are part of the deer family, with thick and very thick fur to be able to withstand low temperatures. They are migratory animals that live in herds and when the coldest seasons begin, they can migrate up to 5,000 km. They currently live in the arctic region of North America, Russia, Norway and Sweden.
They are peaceful animals that feed in the wild on herbs, mushrooms, tree barks, etc. Basically they are ruminants, like the cow or the sheep. They have an excellent sense of smell, since when they live in regions where their food is buried under heavy layers of snow, they have to have a way to find it, their sense of smell. They are prey and their main enemies are wolves, the golden eagle, lynx, bears and... the human being. I think this brief summary gives us a little more insight into these cute animals that, almost unintentionally, are also the protagonists at Christmas.
