The melody of Sleigh Ride was written in the middle of a summer heat wave in 1946 intended as “a musical depiction of the winter season long ago” rather than a Christmas song. The lyrics make no mention of Christmas, but the song (especially the campy and delightful Ronettes version) is one of the most popular Christmas songs in the USA.
This got me wondering about the extent to which sleighs were a common or practical form of transport, and how long ago. I read this article about sleighs, and realised that I had failed to realize that, before cars were widespread, roads were not plowed, and several inches of snow was better for transportation than a dusting of ice and frost. The pre-electrification streetcars of Toronto were horse-drawn sleighs in the winter.
I am really delighted by a bunch of the historical photos I found while looking this up:
It sounds like you could snuggle up together on a recreational sleigh ride during winters long ago, but you were more likely to ride a sleigh one for practical reasons. Come to think of it, wheels are still not the most practical form of transportation in places with heavy winter snow. People get around on snowmobiles and go ice fishing in adorable insectlike skis-in-front, treads-in-the-back vehicles. (I don’t remember what this kind of vehicle is called, but I remember seeing some of when visiting Lake Nippissing with Liam ten (!) years ago.)
Thinking about moving around in the snow,
Tessa