Why Santa’s reindeer really do reign supreme
Beautiful view of Ben Venue
Tomorrow night Santa will be careering across the skies, his present-laden sleigh hauled by his reindeer - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. Rudolph – he of the red nose – is a 20th century addition to that list.
These deer are usually associated with Arctic northern latitudes, especially with Lapland, where reindeer are central to the lives of the native Sami people there. However, there are also herds of reindeer to be found in Russia, Norway, Svalbaard and Greenland. In North America, they are known as caribou.
Long ago, it seems wild reindeer were also present here in Scotland.
There are a number of legends associated with reindeer hunts from way back in our history. For instance, we are told of a 12th century hunting party, led by the Earl of Orkney, chasing reindeer across parts of the far north of Scotland, albeit that much doubt is thrown over this story which may in reality have been about a pursuit of red deer not reindeer.
More curiously, there is an even stranger tale of a centuries old “horn dancing” ritual still held every September in the unlikely lowland location of Staffordshire, apparently celebrating the former presence of reindeer and so presumably also telling of reindeer hunting exploits.
These days there is a herd of reindeer well established in Scotland. The Cairngorm-based reindeer farm was established in the 1950s and is now being expanded and re-located, although still in the Cairngorms. Indeed, for the British leg of his journey, Santa is said to use reindeer from the Cairngorms!
However, our single herd of Scottish reindeer is perhaps, not seen as being as commercially valuable as the massed herds that exist in Lapland where not only do the Sami folk eat lots of reindeer meat and sell it too, but also clothing themselves by using reindeer hides. Other parts of the animals are converted into coats, boots and even canoes!
The lives of those northern peoples are intertwined with the lives of reindeer. Reindeer are unusual in that both sexes are equipped with antlers. In addition, their large, splayed out feet, compared with the dainty “slots” of our more familiar red deer, are also ideal for running across deep snowfields.
Reindeer are also extremely docile animals and having spent a little time among them some years ago, I’m surprised they allegedly survived into the 12th century in what was then a hunting mad Scotland!
Because of their temperaments and extremely docile nature, it is hard to imagine they could ever have provided huntsmen with even passable sport! They would certainly have been easy to kill, which is probably why they died out here.
However, elsewhere in Northern Europe, where the main predator of reindeer is the wolf, modern herds are well protected from this arch 34 Upper predator by the folk who depend upon the herds for their living.
But reindeer, in defending themselves from predators, do have a unique asset denied, as far as I know, to any other animal on this planet, in that they can see exceptionally well in extremely low light due to their ability to receive ultra violet rays. This does apparently provide an effective early warning system as to the presence of wolves, enabling the deer to take evasive action and make themselves scarce at the first, distant sign of approaching wolves.
Their main sources of food are lichens and mosses and they use antlers and hooves to dig through the snow that is a permanent feature across their Arctic environments in order to uncover the vegetation they require for sustenance.
However it seems reindeer are now threatened by the incidence of global warming and recent reports from Russia, tell us that unusually, the average weight of reindeer in places such as Spitzbergen has fallen by some 12 per cent over the course of the past 16 years.
This weight loss is thought to be due to the increasing incidence of precipitation falling in the form of rain rather than snow, which in the low temperatures of those northern latitudes, then freezes, preventing the reindeer from getting through to the vegetation they need. The resultant lack of an intake of nutrients in turn means that reindeer calves are being born under weight, never managing to catch up.
Similar weight losses have been recorded elsewhere and in Russia it is reported that a few years ago in the winter of 2013, reindeer deaths on Siberia’s Yamal Peninsular rose dramatically for the same reason.
Nevertheless, the world’s children should not fret. Santa’s reindeer hauled sleigh is expected to complete the mammoth task of delivering presents to the 700 million children thought to inhabit this planet. Researchers have calculated that as the world’s population continues to grow, so too does Santa have to speed ever faster on Christmas Eve to complete his rounds.
It is calculated that in order to complete the task on that single night, the sleigh careers through the sky at an approximate speed of six million miles per hour!
Which is precisely why, not even the sharpest child ever enjoys as much as a glimpse of the bearded gentleman in the red suit. Half a blink of the eye and he has gone!
Incidentally, further research is based inevitably upon Einstein’s Theory of Relativity – which as everyone knows is the end all and be all of everything! To achieve such velocity, university academics have discovered, Santa, his reindeer and his sleigh as a consequence, shrink to such minuscule proportions as to enable him to scale even the narrowest of chimneys in the process. However, perhaps that’s another reason for those weightshedding reindeer.
It has to be hoped that he can dodge the shells and rockets around war torn Aleppo and reach every single child, whether threatened by warfare or anywhere where children are struggling against abject poverty and starvation, wherever they are.
Perhaps, above all Christmas is a time for renewed hope of better things to come and all of us should remind ourselves that this is a time when our thoughts should always be directed towards those who are less fortunate than ourselves. Giving, as it says in the Good Book, is more blessed than receiving.
My wish for all of them and of course, for all of you, is a very Happy Christmas!