Sleipnir and Eight Tiny Reindeer

Every Christmas, people come out of the woodwork to claim that Santa Claus is the Christian incarnation of Odin. They point to similarities and coincidences to support their case: Odin has a beard; so does Santa. Odin delivers gifts; so does Santa. Sleipnir’s eight legs carry Odin; Santa has eight reindeer. Therefore, Odin must be Santa… or Santa must be Odin. Either way, they are the same person. (Some sites do offer more nuanced arguments, but where’s the fun in that?)

The short answer: Sleipnir’s eight legs are real Norse myth, but nothing shows that they gave Santa his eight reindeer.

Odin and Sleipnir’s Eight Legs

Odin wandered the world in disguise, and in later folklore he led the Wild Hunt across the winter sky. When he rode, he rode Sleipnir, the gray, eight-legged horse that Snorri calls the best of all horses, swift enough to carry him between worlds. He sat on Sleipnir’s back, not in a chariot or sleigh. (Sleipnir’s strange birth is told in our post on Thor, Odin, and Loki.)

The modern Santa Claus is different. He drives a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. Anyone who argues that Santa came from Odin would do better to point to older traditions in which Santa rode, or was pulled by, a white horse. Most arguments focus almost entirely on the shared number eight instead, and treat a superficial coincidence as a meaningful one.

Sleipnir’s Eight Legs = Eight Reindeer?

Vikings hunted wild reindeer (the same species Alaskans call caribou) and traded their antlers. Thor’s chariot was pulled by goats and Freyja’s by cats. But nothing suggests the Norse harnessed reindeer to sleighs. Their Sámi neighbors to the north kept some tame reindeer as decoys and pack animals; around 890, a Norwegian named Ohthere told King Alfred he owned six hundred of them. Large-scale herding came later, around the 1500s.

Reindeer first pulled Santa’s sleigh in Old Santeclaus with Much Delight (1821), where there’s just one. A Visit from St. Nicholas (“’Twas the Night Before Christmas”), published in 1823 and usually credited to Clement C. Moore, was the first to give eight reindeer and their names: “a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer.” Did Sleipnir’s eight legs inspire the number? There’s no evidence of it. Eight fits the meter better.

Christianity’s Penchant for Co-opting Paganism

Christianity has a long history of adapting and reinterpreting pagan traditions, holidays, and symbols. However, using Sleipnir’s eight legs as proof that Odin became Santa Claus stretches the argument well past the available evidence. While this coincidence does not entirely rule out cultural influence, it significantly weakens the claim for those who argue the connection too enthusiastically.

Keep reading: Odin and Santa Claus are explored further in “Odin to Santa Claus: What’s the Connection?” and the midwinter feast itself in Viking traditions in Christmas present. For more Norse myth in your inbox, sign up for Axe and Anchor, Asgard Alaska’s Newsletter.