Weihnachtswissen/Traditionen/USA/Rudolph

Who is Rudolph with the red nose? Do you know his song?

Who is Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer? (für Jhg. 6/7)

Autorin: © Sabine Häcker / 45-90 min

The American Christmas song about Rudolph with the red nose has also been known in Germany for a long time, and you encounter him and his song every December. Reason enough to get to know Rudolph and his story!

Das US-amerikanische Weihnachtslied über Rudolph mit der roten Nase ist schon lange auch bei uns bekannt und man begegnet ihm und seinem Song jedes Jahr im Dezember. Grund genug, Rudolph und seine Geschichte zu kennen!

The Rudolph story was written in 1939 for a colouring book for a Chicago department store chain and became a great success. In 1949, Johnny Marks turned it into a Christmas song, which was sung by Gene Autry. It became a million-dollar success, which has since been covered many times.

The song

The song starts like this:

You know Dasher and Dancer

And Prancer and Vixen

Comet and Cupid

And Donner and Blitzen,

But do you recall

The most famous reindeer of all?

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blitzen are the names of the reindeer that pull Santa Claus's sleigh. Every child in the USA knows their names. They are a key part of the American Christmas tradition (and appeared as early as 1823 in the classic poem A Visit of St. Nicholas by Clemens Clarke Moore).

Because of the printing rights, the complete text is not presented here, but it can be easily found on the Internet, e.g. on the page liederkiste.com. https://www.liederkiste.com/index.php?s=rudolph-the-rednosed-reindeer&l=de#gsc.tab=0

A modern version of the song version can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJQqOzkcHjg#ddg-play

An older version can be found here on tiktok, for example: https://www.tiktok.com/@christmass.bangerss/video/7109360149768211717

• Listen to the song! - Can you sing it?

How is Rudolph feeling right now? How can you tell?

An animated film

There are various film adaptations of Rudolph's story, e.g. this animated film from 1948 (8 minutes):

Link: https://www.loc.gov/item/2023600384/ (Source: see below.)

Summary

The day before Christmas in the "hills", Rudolph is teased and taunted by other reindeer children for his large bright red nose. As the other reindeer children continue to enjoy their outdoor winter activities, Rudolph returns home feeling sad and rejected. Rudolph's mom cheers him up by reminding him to hang his stocking for Santa Claus, but as he falls asleep, he remembers the other reindeer children's cruelty and his sadness returns. Meanwhile in the North Pole, Santa and his reindeer depart amid heavy fog to deliver presents. Although their sleigh soon encounters problems, Santa and his reindeer are still able to reach Rudolph's house. Santa gets an idea when he sees how well Rudolph's shiny nose lights his bedroom. Santa awakens Rudolph, describes the perilous travel, and tells Rudolph he is needed for the rest of the flight. Rudolph leaves a note for his parents and joins Santa and the other reindeer on their journey throughout the rest of the night. The next morning, news of Rudolph's journey reaches his hometown. The other reindeer race to a stadium where Santa praises Rudolph and appoints him commander-in-chief, which prompts Rudolph to blush proudly from head to toe.

How is Rudolph feeling at the end of the story? How do you know?

Einordnung in die Weihnachtstraditionen

• Die Namen der acht Rentiere sind nicht von den Filmemachern ausgedacht, sondern eine alte US-amerikanische Weihnachtstradition. Sie kamen bereits 1823 in dem Gedicht “A visit from St. Nicholas” von Clemens Moore vor - dem Gedicht, das wie kein anderes die US-amerikanische Weihnachtstradition geprägt hat.
• Dass Santa Claus mit dem Schlitten kommt, ist ebenfalls eine US-amerikanische Weihnachtstradition, auch dass er durch den Kamin rutscht und die Geschenke in aufgehängte Strümpfe packt – in Deutschland werden die Geschenke meist unter den Weihnachtsbaum gelegt, denn in der deutschen Tradition kommt der Weihnachtsmann nicht durch den Kamin.
• Ein weiterer Unterschied ist, dass in den USA der Weihnachtsmann in der Nacht, wenn die Kinder schlafen, vorbeikommt, und dass es die Geschenke dann am 25.12. morgens nach dem Aufwachen gibt - während in Deutschland die Bescherung bereits am Heiligabend, am 24. Dezember, stattfindet.

Question

• Is the Rudolph story and the Rudolph song to be classified as religious or secular?

Quiz

• Create a quiz on https://learningapps.org (for your family, friends, classmates or teachers) in which you test their knowledge about Rudolph!
• Introduce and play your quizzes to each other!

Literature + Sources

• Sabine Häcker: Wem gehört Weihnachten? - Brauchtum, Glaube und Politik. 2025.

• Video: Stultz, Joseph E., Adapter, et al. comp by Kleinsinger, George, prod by Jam Handy Organizationuction Company, Copyright Claimant, Film Distributor United States: Jam Handy Organization, 1948. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, USA. https://www.loc.gov/item/2023600384/
• Zu dem Gedichteklassiker A visit of St. Nicholas, das die US-amerikanische Santa-Claus-Tradition maßgeblich prägte, gibt es ebenfalls ein Unterrichtsmaterial der Autorin: Weihnachtswissen/Tradition/USA/SantaClaus – ZUM-Unterrichten (Das Gedicht ist jedoch sprachlich anspruchsvoll und das Material wird deshalb wohl erst ab Jahrgang 8 einsetzbar sein.)

Zusatzangebot: Zusammenfassung

Dieser Lückentext auf Deutsch ist ein Angebot - ggfs. zur Differenzierung oder falls Rudolph in einem anderen Fach als Englisch behandelt wird.

Hinweis zum Anliegen der geschlechtergerechten Sprache: Es wird die generische Variante in ihrer genderneutralen Definition verwendet. Das grammatikalische Geschlecht von Sprache ist dabei keinesfalls mit dem biologischen oder sozialen Geschlecht von Menschen gleichzusetzen!