“… And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof …”
— from “A Visit from St. Nicholas”
As the “Merry Christmas” versus “Happy Holidays” political nonsense heats up for the yuletide season, I’ve turned my attention to more historic holiday matters.
Caribou versus reindeer.
There’s really no controversy. They are the same animal.
Throughout the upper reaches of North America, these 300- to 400-pound, heavily antlered critters are known as caribou. However, across Northern Europe and Siberia, they carry the more holiday friendly moniker of reindeer. Unfortunately, they are not known by either name in Kentucky because we don’t have any, although I wish we did. However, Kentucky is home to two reindeer relatives—whitetail deer and elk.
Reindeer first attained widespread Christmas fame nearly two centuries ago when, on Dec. 23, 1823, the charming poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published in the Troy Sentinel in New York by the famed author Anonymous. It wasn’t until more than two decades later, in 1844, that poet, scholar and pastor Rev. Clement Clarke Moore included the poem—more commonly known by its opening line, “’Twas the night before Christmas”—in a published collection and claimed authorship. Soon afterward, controversy surfaced. The family of poet Henry Livingston Jr., who died in 1828, claimed he had penned the poem. No one knows for sure the identity of the original author, but based on syntax and literary style, the nod sometimes leans toward Livingston.
Authorship notwithstanding, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” quickly became and has remained one of the most popular Christmas poems ever penned.
My interest in the 51-line poem, which is written in anapestic meter, hinges on the critters—the “eight tiny rein-deer.” They are named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder (updated spelling Donner) and Blitzen. Since Dasher is listed first, I’ve always assumed she is the lead reindeer.
Moore (or Livingston) employed a generous level of artistic license in both his description of the animals and their mobile abilities. While the Svalbard reindeer, a subspecies found on a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, average around 150 pounds, most reindeer are in the 300- to 400-pound range. The smallest of the species, the Svalbard are hardly “tiny,” and a team of eight could easily handle a sleigh.
Reindeer flying abilities are another matter. Bats are the only known mammals that can fly. However, Hollywood addressed this thorny question in the 1994 version of the film Miracle on 34th Street. In a courtroom scene, character Kris Kringle (portrayed by Sir Richard Attenborough) is presented with a reindeer and asked to make the animal fly. Sadly, he cannot, then explain the limitations. “He only flies,” the prosecuting attorney is told, “on Christmas Eve.”
Regardless of flying ability, reindeer have been widely domesticated, especially across parts of Northern Europe and Siberia, and are sometimes employed as beasts of burden. Towing a sleigh is a chore easily managed.
Reindeer also are social animals—traveling, feeding and resting in groups ranging from around a couple of dozen to a couple of hundred. During spring migrations in search of food, they travel hundreds of miles in astoundingly large herds that can swell to 500,000.
Some reindeer subspecies’ knees make a clicking sound when they walk. One explanation of this oddity is that it allows the animals to stay together in blizzard conditions. It also might explain “the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.”
Reindeer are unique in that, unlike Kentucky’s whitetail deer and elk, both male and female reindeer grow antlers. However, male reindeer typically shed their antlers in November. Females carry their antlers until late spring. The evidence is unmistakable: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen (translated Thunder and Lighning)—and later addition Rudolph—are all girls.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours.
• • •
Don’t overindulge on eggnog and miss Kentucky’s excellent late-season hunting. Seasons remain open for several species, including but not limited to:
- Deer (archery and crossbow through Jan. 17; late muzzleloader Dec. 11-19).
- Fall turkey (shotgun Dec. 4-10, crossbow through Dec. 31, archery through Jan. 17).
- Black bear (firearm Dec. 11-17).
- Doves (Nov. 25-Dec. 5; Dec. 18-Jan. 9).
- Ducks/coots/mergansers (Dec. 7-Jan. 31).
- Canada geese/white-fronted geese/brant (Nov. 25-Feb. 15).
- Squirrel (through Feb. 28).
- Rabbit and quail, eastern zone (through Jan. 31).
- Rabbit and quail, western zone (through Feb. 10).
For more information on Kentucky’s hunting seasons, dates, bag limits and zones, go to fw.ky.gov.
Readers may contact Gary Garth at editor@kentuckymonthly.com