Is Rudolph the Reindeer canon?

[sidious618]

No way is Rudolph part of Santa Claus lore.

 

[Kryton]

No.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_reindeer

Rudolph's story was originally written in verse by Robert L. May for the Montgomery Ward chain of department stores in 1939, and published as a book to be given to children in the store at Christmas time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retcon]RetconRetcon

From that reference:

The Star Trek books, The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh (Volumes 1 & 2), by Greg Cox, detail the fictional Eugenics Wars, giving alternate explanations for real world events such as the Indian nuclear test of 1974.

One of own esteemed posters.

 

[Ethros]

I like the names of the new fleet of reindeer from South Park "Red Sleigh Down"

Steven, Fluffy, Horace, Chantel, Skippy, Rainbow, Patches and Montel

 

[Venardhi]

Rudolph is really only applicable to that one particular story of Santa needing him on a particularly foggy night. I tend to think of him as backstory, just one more adventure out of St. Nick's many years of wild Christmas eves.

 

[RoJoHen]

Rudolph is really only applicable to that one particular story of Santa needing him on a particularly foggy night. I tend to think of him as backstory, just one more adventure out of St. Nick's many years of wild Christmas eves.

So what does Rudolph do on clear nights?

I bet he hangs out and gets drunk while his reindeer brethren slave away all night!

 

[Captain Intrepid]

Nope. Coke had little, if anything, to do with the current image of Santa.

Sorry, but from what I've read, Coke DID have a lot to do w/ the current image. In illustrations from before their ads, Santa was neither was fat nor wore a red suit. And St. Nicholas, the real-life person on whom he is primarily based, is not depicted as fat or wearing red.

Read and weep, Slick.

While Coca Cola certainly didn't invent the red fat santa claus, they did popularize it to the extent it is today.

 

[Kryton]

Rudolph is really only applicable to that one particular story of Santa needing him on a particularly foggy night. I tend to think of him as backstory, just one more adventure out of St. Nick's many years of wild Christmas eves.

So what does Rudolph do on clear nights?

I bet he hangs out and gets drunk while his reindeer brethren slave away all night!

It's the REAL reason his nose is so red.

 

[Trekker4747]

Sorry, but from what I've read, Coke DID have a lot to do w/ the current image. In illustrations from before their ads, Santa was neither was fat nor wore a red suit. And St. Nicholas, the real-life person on whom he is primarily based, is not depicted as fat or wearing red.

Read and weep, Slick.

While Coca Cola certainly didn't invent the red fat santa claus, they did popularize it to the extent it is today.

By taking the most popular view of Santa and plastering him eveywhere.

 

[RoJoHen]

Read and weep, Slick.

While Coca Cola certainly didn't invent the red fat santa claus, they did popularize it to the extent it is today.

By taking the most popular view of Santa and plastering him eveywhere.

Do you have a better way?

 

[Trekker4747]

While Coca Cola certainly didn't invent the red fat santa claus, they did popularize it to the extent it is today.

By taking the most popular view of Santa and plastering him eveywhere.

Do you have a better way?

Not making every child on the planet break the first commandment and just let them know mom and dad get them the gifts?

I guess I don't much understand the concept. I get that it is fun, we play it with my niece, I'll likely play it with my kids, but I don't get why we "need" it.

Why do kids need this secular figure to "believe in" this time of year and get presents from? Who do they love at the end of the day on Christmas? Jesus as they should per the Holiday's religious roots? Nope.

Mom and dad for giving them gifts? Nope.

They love Santa. An imaginary figure.

It's silly to me and I don't see the "need" for it.

 

[RoJoHen]

There is no need for it. It's a legend, a fairytale.

Although I wish there was a better way to tell kids the truth. I was the one who told my younger brother that there was no Santa, and he cried for days!

 

[Captain Intrepid]

Read and weep, Slick.

While Coca Cola certainly didn't invent the red fat santa claus, they did popularize it to the extent it is today.

By taking the most popular view of Santa and plastering him eveywhere.

Before Coca Cola, there was no single most popular view of Santa.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I guess I don't much understand the concept. I get that it is fun, we play it with my niece, I'll likely play it with my kids, but I don't get why we "need" it.

Why do kids need this secular figure to "believe in" this time of year and get presents from? Who do they love at the end of the day on Christmas? Jesus as they should per the Holiday's religious roots? Nope.

Mom and dad for giving them gifts? Nope.

They love Santa. An imaginary figure.

It's silly to me and I don't see the "need" for it.

Oh, have a Coke and a smile.

 

[Deckerd]

Why do kids need this secular figure to "believe in" this time of year and get presents from? Who do they love at the end of the day on Christmas? Jesus as they should per the Holiday's religious roots? Nope.

Mom and dad for giving them gifts? Nope.

They love Santa. An imaginary figure.

It's silly to me and I don't see the "need" for it.

Truly, you are well-named Scrooge. Is there any need for art? Music? Science Fiction?

BTW The name 'Santa' means saint. Hardly secular then.

 

[Sean Aaron]

There is no need for it. It's a legend, a fairytale.

Although I wish there was a better way to tell kids the truth.

My daughter has her own explanation of Santa; we have no idea how she came up with this. She doesn't believe Santa makes toys in a workshop; he just delivers the toys purchased by Mummy and Daddy, et al.

 

[FordSVT]

I think things like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are good for young children's imaginations. I think there might be some kind of "need" for such things in our development, most kids also have an imaginary friend or two growing up.

 

[TGTheodore]

Also, there's no such reindeer as "Donner" it's Donder. Over the years it's gotten bastardized.

"Donder" and "Blitzen" are German for "thunder" and "lightning".

"Donner" directed Superman the Movie.



--Ted

 

[RoJoHen]

I had an older couple at my bar argue with try to tell me that Cupid and Vixen couldn't possibly be reindeer names because they made Santa sound like a pimp. It was pretty funny. The gentleman kept yelling at me to google Santa's reindeer because there was no way I was right.

Then he started arguing with me about the Seven Dwarves.

Drunk people are occasionally hilarious.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ He probably couldn't name all six Stooges, either.

Also, there's no such reindeer as "Donner" it's Donder. Over the years it's gotten bastardized.

It was one of those Ellis Island misunderstandings.

 

[Danoz]

He's definitely canonical. I think the TV special has pretty much cemented Rudolph into the Christmas canon, regardless of why he was invented (although the others were invented by one guy for a poem, so one person gets a big say in these types of things).

Agreed.

Every Christmas-celebrating child in the world knows the story of Rudolf.