Did You Know That Reindeer Cannot Climb the Hills of Italy?

My gracious but whatever will the Italiani do?

Aha! Fortunately, Santa's got a little friend! His name is Dominick, the Italian Christmas Donkey!



As I am not of Italian descent this funny little carol completely bypassed my childhood. I oddly discovered it while shopping for Italian themed Christmas gifts for my nephews (more on Italian gifts for the bimbi in another post...) and I just can't stop laughing.

After digging around on the Internet I found a couple of sites that essentially report the same thing. The song was written in the mid 60s by Lou Monte who was born in Jersey to Calabrese parents. Apparently he was a much respected performer in the Italian-American community. One thread post described "his presence as defining Italian-American music and the immigrant experience of the last century".

If you would like to sing along, click here for the lyrics from About.com .

Also these translations from an About.com thread are helpful since he mixes in some dialect.

- paisans: Neapolitan 'paisano' = fellow countryman
- Bruccalin': dialect = Brooklyn, NYC
- Cummare's: Neapolitan 'cummare' = Godmother, female relative
- cumpare's: Neapolitan 'cumpare' = Godfather, male relative, chum
- 'a tarantell': Neapolitan 'a tarantella' = southern Italian dance
- Santa Nicola: dialect = St. Nick, Santa Clause
- 'o ciucciarell': Neapolitan 'o ciucciarello' = little donkey
- Buonn Natale!: Neapolitan = Merry Christmas