When we think about Christmas many of us will conger up the image of reindeers flying through the sky whilst pulling a sleigh full of presents with Santa Clause onboard and the below extract from a famous poem by Clement Clarke Moore, sometimes called A Visit from Saint Nicholas or The Night Before Christmas supports that image.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
“Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”
However deer’s have in fact appeared in sacred and magical texts around the world for many years far away from the seasonal portrayal above.
In Buddhism the deer are on either side of the Wheel of Law and they describe meditation, meekness and gentleness. However in Chinese Buddhism the creature represents love sickness on the same way that tigers portray anger and monkeys greed.
In Celtic traditions, deer often are depicted as guides and enticers into the Fairy Realm. In other stories though people take on the form of the deer in order to protect or preserve their own lives, for example Magician Mongan lived many years as a deer before changing into the shapes of other creatures. In an early tale about St Patrick he wrote in a famous hymn ‘The Deer’s Cry’ in memory of having escaped his enemies using the form of the deer. Deer shape is a pagan invocation called Fith Fath meaning to avoid being visible.
South American Indians believe that deer carry the soul of a person to the sorcerer; they also believe ancestors can be reincarnated as deer.
The deer has played an important part for the Native American people, their tribes and clans believe the deer is a rain bringer and so plays an important part in the fertilising the earth. A deer dance is enacted by Yaqui tribes to encourage fraternity and food for animals and people.
Along with the rain the deer is thought to be able to bring about Thunder and Lightning which brings us full circle to Donder and Blitzen (German spelling) or Dunder and Blixem (Dutch spelling) which translates in English to Thunder and Lightning.
Tweet