The Christmas Mystery: Who Really Wrote ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas?
Two centuries after it first delighted readers, the true author of the iconic Christmas poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ remains a festive mystery shrouded in debate and intrigue.
(As heard in the Weird Darkness podcast episode, ‘Twas The Mystery Before Christmas)
Almost everyone knows the popular Christmas poem…
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a luster of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. 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!”
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
A poem beloved by children and parents alike for more than two hundred years. But this poem, “A Visit From St. Nick” (known popularly as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”) has a mystery attached to it… a mystery about who actually wrote it.
The poem was originally published anonymously in a New York newspaper, the Troy Sentinel, on Dec. 23, 1823. Nobody knew the name of their author — the person who wrote the beloved lines about Santa Claus and his eight tiny reindeer.
Then 21 years later, in 1844, a professor named Clement Clarke Moore did claim authorship. Moore said he wrote the poem, which was written under the title “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” for his children. He said he had modeled his description of Santa Claus on a “portly, rubicund Dutchman” who lived in his neighborhood.
But, say some, another wrote the beloved Christmas poem. Henry Livingston Jr., who died in 1828, was the real author, his family claims. According to them, Livingston would read the poem to his children, around Christmas of 1808, several years before it was ever published.
Clue one of this mystery is the names of Santa’s last two reindeer. In the original newspaper version, he had called them “Dunder and Blixem,” which is Dutch for “thunder and lightning.” Those were revised to “Donder and Blitzin,” German words with the same meaning. Others argue that because Livingston knew Dutch and Moore did not, this demonstrates that Livingston authored the poem.
The mystery has been examined by scholars over decades, who poured through documents from the era and evaluated writing styles. Some say Moore, a serious Bible scholar, would never have written so playful a children’s poem. But others note that Moore wrote other poems for his children and grandchildren that demonstrate he was capable of fun.
In 2000, a professor named Donald Wayne Foster wrote a book about the case and found evidence that Livingston was most likely the real author. But his findings are in heavy dispute among historians. All the physical evidence, including handwritten versions of the poem, as well as statements from Moore’s friends and acquaintances, points to him as the true author, the officials said.
Today, over 200 years after it was first published, we still can’t say for certain who wrote “’Twas The Night Before Christmas.” But one thing is certain: Whoever wrote it did so to give us one of the most beloved Christmas stories of all time, shaping the way we picture Santa Claus and his magical Christmas Eve journey. And sometimes a Christmas mystery is worth keeping.
SOURCES LIST: https://weirddarkness.com/christmasmysteries/
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