For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples relied on reindeer in snowy climates. Siberian and Sámi lore spoke of a deep spiritual bond with reindeer. Shamans saw reindeer eating red-and-white fly agaric mushrooms, which made them prance about wildly and leap as if about to fly. Shamans used these mushrooms in rituals to help people feel as though they were also rising to the spirit world. These customs may have inspired stories of flying reindeer.
The 1821 poem “Old Santeclaus with Much Delight” featured the first known image of Santa with reindeer, perhaps because they could pull his sleigh through snow. Two years later, “The Night Before Christmas” made his eight flying reindeer famous. In Germany, the red-and-white mushroom was a lucky symbol used on holiday cards, its colors matching Santa’s suit.
I want children to remember:
“Even the strangest-sounding parts of Santa’s story often come from someone’s real belief, real reverence, and real relationship with the natural world.”
That’s the whole point of my newest book, The True Story of Santa Claus. Every detail inside it, the reindeer, the red and white, the leap through the sky, is there because it’s true. Not invented for a toy commercial, not dreamed up to sell wrapping paper, but carried forward from real people who looked at the natural world and saw something sacred in it.
Next Up: The ancient origins of Christmas trees, wreaths, and ornaments, where even your living room centerpiece has a story stretching back thousands of years.
If you want the picture book, or free printables to bring these ideas to life, click the links below. ⭐
A free way to start the conversation now
You don't need the book or to be ready to answer the question yet to start teaching your kids that they have the power to create magic, miracles, and joy for others. I made a free companion printable, the Miracle Maker, that walks kids through the same idea in the book: Magic doesn't happen to you, it happens through you.
It includes:
A page where your child plans their own "Secret Miracle": who they'll help, what they'll do, and how they'll keep it a secret
Conversation starters for grown ups and kids to brainstorm ideas together
A list of trusted, kid safe places to send cards, grant a child's Christmas wish, or give to a charitable cause
A Miracle Log and an official Miracle Maker certificate
Print it out, grab your kids, and let them decide how they'll make an ordinary day extraordinary for someone else. That's how Santa’s spirits continues to be real. That’s how his miracles and generosity have continued and will continue for millennia. Not because we tell kids to believe, but because we show them how to become the reason someone else does.