Hello, and welcome to day six of the 12 days of Christmas. We're halfway through, people. I'm Mimi Fotz, and this is Hello from the Van. This episode is about 10 minutes long. Plan accordingly. Today we're going to read an American classic, the most famous of all American Christmas stories. It's known as Twas the Night Before Christmas. Now, in this story, there's a couple of things that you need to make note of. Number one, this is the first time in all of literature that we get a very clear and distinct description of Santa Claus. This is also where we get our knowledge of his reindeer and their names. Before this, they'd never been written down. It was just an oral history. And who took the time to write down all of these descriptions? We're not exactly sure. There's quite a bit of debate about who actually wrote 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. According to Columbia University, there are two authors who claim this work. The first is Thomas C. Moore. He was a famous writer, but he normally wrote more serious stories, not ones as whimsical as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. The other author is Henry Livingston. He was a farmer, but also a casual writer who wrote for local newspapers. If we know both of these men and we know both of their histories, then why can't we pinpoint who actually wrote this down? Well, it's kind of tricky. You see, 'twas the night before Christmas was written over 200 years ago. It was written in 1822. Remember our first episode when we talked about how history is recorded by those who write the loudest? Moore wrote the loudest. That's the best way to describe it. Here's what Columbia has to say about it. Quote, as the story goes, and there are many stories, a Moore family friend, Harriet Butler of Troy, New York, heard Moore read the poem and asked to copy it down. A year later, at Christmas time, Butler's friend, Sarah Sackett, submitted the unsigned poem to the Troy Sentinel, which published it anonymously. The poem, author unknown, spread to other newspapers, becoming an early 19th century viral sensation. Close quote. So basically, a friend of a friend of a the author wrote anonymously in a newspaper, and that author, Thomas More, did not claim the work until over 20 years later in 1844. Yes, that is actually Thomas More's claim to this story. He basically said, Listen, guys, I gave it at a at a party one time, then my friend wrote it down, then her friend took it to his paper, then the editor at the paper said, Hey, we'll just put this in the paper, but we'll do it anonymously. So, like, yeah, I wrote it, but she goes to another school. And honestly, that claim has stood for a very long time. If it weren't for the family of Henry Livingston. For over a hundred and fifty years, the family of Henry Livingston claimed that he was the actual author and that they as children recited the poem together in their home every Christmas Eve. It was not until 1999 when Mary Van Dusen, a Livingston descendant, enlisted the services of Don Foster. He was an English professor and what's known as a literary sleuth. Basically, his job is to go back in time and to find out the origins. He's a detective of words, basically, to find out the origin of stories, who wrote them, when they came about, exactly when they were first published, things like that. He basically figures out the who, what, where, when, and why of literature. He went back and he said, All right, let's look at the patterns and let's look at the syntax, the vocabulary, the punctuation. Let's see whose other writings are closest to this. Let's see if it's Livingston or more. Here's what he found. And it's amazing. One of the key things that they used to determine who actually wrote this is the names of the reindeer. So there's two reindeer, right? Donner and blitzen. In the oral histories of Santa Claus, these are known as Dunder and Blitzum, after the Dutch oath of thunder and lightning. That became Donner and Blitzen in the versions that Moore wrote. But Livingston was actually Dutch and knew the language. So do we believe that the guy who wrote it is the guy who actually spoke Dutch and knew the names Dunder and Blixum, or the guy who changed it and they became Donner and Blitzen? I don't know, guys, but I love the fact that Santa Claus's reindeer are named after thunder and lightning. Amazing. So let's go back to our literary detective. What did Foster have to say about all of this? For Foster, the fact that Livingston was Dutch and knew the language and that Moore did not was proof that Livingston wrote the original. Foster had other evidence, but suffice it to say, he truly believes that Livingston wrote twas the night before Christmas and that Moore was a thief and a liar. However, this did not go unchallenged. Apparently, there is a very spirited clique of Santa Claus scholars. Yes, people whose entire life is dedicated to the research and history of Santa Claus. One such scholar is Seth Keller. He has a lot at stake here because in 1997 he bought one of Moore's handwritten copies of Twas a Night Before Christmas. He paid $211,000 for this document, only to have Foster come out two years later and say, hey, that document is fraudulent. Moore didn't write that. Livingston did, and here's all the proof. It caused quite the kerfuffle. And then there was a third guy. His name was Scott Norsworthy. And he tried to rebut or counterclaim every single thing that Foster had said about Moore and Livingston. Long story short, this became what's known as the Battle for Christmas. People writing books back and forth and articles back and forth, trying to determine who wrote this 200-year-old text. So what are the counterclaims for Moore and against Livingston? Well, apparently, Thomas More had a neighbor who he thought looked like Santa Claus, and this neighbor happened to be Dutch. So he said, Hey, I'm gonna write a story about my neighbor who loves Santa Claus and I think looks like him. So he wrote the story to include his Dutch neighbor, which would give us that Dutch connection that we talked about earlier when we talked about Donner and Blitzen. But I don't know, guys, is that enough? I'll leave it up to you. One of the things that all of the scholars can agree on is that a visit from St. Nicholas or the Visit or Twas the Night Before Christmas is probably the most famous poem ever written by an American author. And with that, this is Twas the Night Before Christmas by Moore Livingston No more I don't know. Let's just read it. 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 Saint Nicholas soon would be there. The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar plums danced in their little heads. And mamma in her kerchief and I in my cap had just settled down 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 the lustre of midday to objects below. When what, to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, with a little old driver so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick. More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came. He whistled, and he shouted, and he called them by name. Now Dasha, no dancer, no pranzen, no vixen, on Comet, on Cupid, on Donder and Blitzen, to the top of the porch, to the top of the wall Dash away, dash away, dash away ho as dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky. So up to the house top the coursers they flew, with the sleigh full of toys and Saint 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, Saint 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 pedlar, 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 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 bowlful 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, wh and away they flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim ere he drove out of sight, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. I'm Mimi Fotz, and this has been Hello from the Van Today's research brought to you by the Academy of American Poets, Columbia University, The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum, Ho Hoax by Ted Mann, and finally The Authorship of the Night Before Christmas by Seth Keller.