Santa Claus is thought to be a fusion of Catholic myths about Saint Nicholas and Norse pagan myths about the god Odin. Odin, disguised as a bearded old man and bearing gifts, was said to visit during the ancient 12-day winter feast of Yule, riding an eight-legged horse. Children would leave hay in their shoes for Odin's steed. Another Norse god, Thor, flew through the sky on a chariot pulled by two magical goats. After Catholicism spread across Europe, Saint Nicholas, riding a white horse, became the winter gift-giver. In Pennsylvania Dutch mythology, St. Nick's helper, Belsnickel, is often depicted on a donkey or mule. When beliefs about Saint Nicholas, called Sinterklaas by the Dutch, took hold in the United States in the early 19th century, Americans began to create their own myths and stories about him. The most important was an anonymous 1823 poem called “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” more commonly known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.” It described St. Nick's means of transportation as a flying sleigh full of toys, led by eight reindeer. The poem even named the creatures: "And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name: / 'Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen! / On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Dunder and Blixem!'" "Dunder and Blixem" are German words meaning "thunder and lightning," but their names were later changed to "Donner and Blitzen." In 1863, "Harper's Weekly" illustrator Thomas Nast drew a gift-giver inspired by the famous poem, but gave him the name of "Santa Claus." Germany, the turn-of-the-century manufacturing center of all things Christmas, started producing papier-mâché reindeer, often covered with fur or felt, around 1900. Reindeer are a type of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) that, in the 18th century, were domesticated as beasts of burden in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, particularly by the indigenous people Sami, also known as Laplanders. Well adapted for cold weather, reindeer can run up to 48 miles per hour. In the 19th century, Sheldon Jackson, a missionary to Inuit people in Alaska, noted that many indigenous fishers were starving because the commercial whaling industry had depleted their waters of whales. Jackson convinced the U.S. government to bring in more than 100 Sami reindeer herders and their families and nearly 600 reindeer from north of Norway in 1898. The reindeer flourished in Alaska, so a local businessman, Carl Lomen, saw an opportunity to market reindeer meat and fur across the continental United States. With the help of Macy's Department Store, he developed a Christmas parade led by Santa in his sleigh and his eight reindeer, along with Sami herders in their colorful traditional garb. The first Macy's Christmas Parade (which later became the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade) took place in 1924. It inspired similar parades in cities and towns around the country. Thanks to the cattle lobby and various political obstacles, reindeer meat never caught on the United States, and Lomen went out of business in the late 1930s. However, images of reindeer were now engrained in the American Christmas mythology. At that point, the Montgomery Ward department store had been giving free Christmas-themed coloring books to children every holiday season. The company decided to produce its own coloring book in-house for the 1939 season, and asked one of its advertising copywriters, a Jewish man named Robert Lewis May, to write a "cheery" tale featuring an animal lead. He came up with the story of a shy, young buck who barely has antlers and is mocked by his peers for his shining red nose before he's put to work guiding Santa's sleigh. That year, Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," who became "Santa's ninth reindeer." May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, turned the story of Rudolph into a song, which became a No. 1 hit for Gene Autry in Christmas of 1949. The catchy tune sold 2.5 million copies that year alone and has remained a popular Christmas staple for nearly 70 years. In 1964, the debut of the stop-motion animation Christmas special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" only further cemented the character as a Christmas icon in the popular imagination. Decorative reindeer have been made with all manner of materials in the 20th century, from metal, glass, and ceramic to celluloid and blow-mold plastic. They've been incorporated into Christmas tree ornaments, outdoor light-up displays, candy containers, Christmas cards, toys, and Christmas plates. Reindeer antlers and light-up Rudolph noses are a part of campy Christmas costumes. For all the classier Fair Isle sweaters that have been woven with reindeer patterns, you see just as many ugly Christmas sweaters with giant Rudolph faces. Light-up Rudolph ties are perennial Christmas Dad jokes.