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The Legend of the White Stag, or, Why Rudolph Has a Red Nose

The legend of the white stag is part of the mythology of many cultures, originating with early European and Asian cultures who depended on hunting for their survival.

Star Mythology

The most ancient legend of the stag revolves around the “great hunter” (the constellation of stars known as Orion), who hunts the heavenly stag (Ursa Major), killing it around what is now Christmas time, in late December. When the stag is killed, the sun, which the stag holds in its horns, escapes and becomes stronger, signaling the beginning of spring. The stag’s offspring repeat the cycle every year.

This legend is found in records and paintings from ancient cultures in Mesopotamia, Assyria, Babylon, and even in the art of the Mongols, Chinese and Huns. Some cultures added the motif of the twins (the constellation Gemini) hunting the stag.

The Stag in Different Cultures

The Persian legends of the stag are Scythian in origin: the son of the emperor was hunting when he came across a wondrous stag, which he chased but could never catch. Finally the stag led him to a lake, where it jumped into the waters disappeared. The went to sleep, and woke to the sound of laughter and music. He followed the sounds until he came to a marble palace, where he found a beautiful goddess of a girl on the throne and married her.

In Hungarian mythology, a great white stag led the brothers Hunor and Magar to settle in Scythia, where they established the Huns and Magyars.

In a Japanese version of the legend, twin brothers chase the stag and then get into an argument about which way the stag has disappeared. One brother travels west, while the other one goes to the east and finds Japan.

In Celtic myth, the white stag symbolizes the presence of the Otherworld. It appears when someone has committed a transgression or broken a taboo. It also appears as an impetus to a quest or adventure, and was often seen in the forests around King Arthur’s court, sending the knights on adventures against gods and fairies. The white hart also was the heraldic symbol of England‘s King Richard II.

In the French Romance, the stag appears in the lais of Marie de France, when Guigemar happens upon the strange sight of a white doe with antlers. He wounds the mysterious, hermaphroditic animal, which curses him to grow up and fall in love.

In the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, the stag is the favorite animal of the queen of the underworld (Yumala), which leads the hero to his doom.

For Christians, the white stag came to symbolize Christ. In the legend of St. Eustace, the Roman soldier Eustace happens upon a deer with a cross between his antlers while hunting. Eustace immediately falls to his knees and converts to Christianity.

The Meaning of the White Stag

The deer, of course, was a source of life, an important natural resource for early man who relied on hunting for survival. Because of its star origins, the stag is associated with the sun—it is often shown with the sun between its horns–and so symbolizes warmth and the renewal of life in the spring. In the early Scythian mythology, which underlies the Persian and Hungarian legend of the stag, the stag represents the cosmos, which carries the stars, sun and the moon in its horns. Scythian stags are often shown with horns in the shape of flames.

White is a symbol of purity, and of divinity. The white stag in the ancient Irish saga Pwyll penduc Dyfed has a white body with red ears– colors typical of supernatural creatures.

Santa Claus’ sleigh is drawn by eight reindeer, who would be white if they live at the North Pole. Rudolph, the “most famous reindeer of all,” had a shiny red nose, according to the famous American Christmas song, placing him squarely in the tradition of the legend of the White Stag!

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