“’Twas the Night Before Christmas” never mentions the sex of Santa’s eight tiny reindeer
By Linda Raedisch
Thanks to the names given them by Clement Moore*, not to mention the work of Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass, we tend to think of the eight tiny reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh as males, but the females of Rangifer tarandus also sport modest antlers with which they protect their calves from potential predators. Reindeer calves are conceived in September and born in May, so the does are already a few months gone by Christmas Eve. I doubt Santa would want to endanger the health of a gestating female by asking her to pull a fully loaded sleigh around the globe, so Dasher, Dancer and all the rest are probably males.
They cannot, however, be bulls, for all that autumnal rutting has left the mature, sexually potent males too weak to pull the sleigh. The exhaustion following the frenzy of courtship shows itself in the bulls’ antlers, which by early winter have begun to drop off. And when did you ever see one of Santa’s reindeer with only half a rack?
There is only one kind of reindeer suitable for pulling Santa’s sleigh and that is the harke, or castrated male. The harke, whose testicles were traditionally bitten off by the herdsman, is real Christmas card material. With few demands on his energy, he is able to keep his fine antlers as well as a thick coat and enough body fat to keep him going on his world tour. A harke in harness looks very festive indeed, for the old time reindeer harness is an elaborate affair, the leather collar adorned with appliqué, couched tin thread and a variety of bells.
From Old Magic of Christmas by Linda Raedisch. © 2013 by Linda Raedisch. Used by permission from
Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd.
*Although Biblical scholar Clement Moore has long been credited authorship of the famous poem, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” aka “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” it is a matter of some dispute.
❋❋ If you liked this story you might also enjoy . . . ❋❋
~ ‘Tis the Season for Excess (but you don’t have to buy into it)
~ Why We Go Crazy at Christmas: The Psychology of Holiday Shopping
~ Holiday Food Survival Skills
~ Glad No Matter What—Staying sane on holidays
