The Magical Origins of Christmas
Would you believe it if I told you most of our holiday traditions center around a magic mushroom?
We can be investigators of our past, track down where pine trees grow naturally, find out where reindeer live, and the oldest links to
Many of our modern “Christmas” decorations can be traced to nature mythology. Considering that many of our “Christmas" traditions were once pagan and attempted to be wiped out, it's not surprising that we have lost our sense of what some of them truly mean.
As it turns out, Santa WAS a deeply religious man, just not the kind of religious we associate him with today. Once upon a time, jolly men sat around communities and brought “gifts”, tales of the other worlds he would adventure to, flying along with his reindeer. He was a shaman, in the deep wintery north of Siberia, where people entered their homes through “chimneys”, holes in the wall in the cieling when snow covered the other entrances. Pine trees naturally decorated the towns, their pines holding in oils especially well to survive, with THEIR gifts of red and white speckled mushrooms growing beneath them. Reindeer would eat the mushrooms and eat in funny ways, and like most things, taught US how to experience psycadhelic trances, or just find a yummy treat.
There seems to be a unified experience that most people have when taking psychadelics, and it is one of connection. People feel part of something larger, see how INTERESTING nature is. Colors are more vibrant, blending, standing out, music inspires, senses explode. We see our bodies, how similar we all are, rather than how different (which tends to consume most of our day time thoughts). Most people who take psychedelics talk of a purity all awakening: the kind most of us today never get to experience, a seemingly radical religious experience, as a whisper of what people once must have gotten out of it.
We may have been banned from using things from our pagan pasts, but the stories linger in the traditions/foods/words/celebrations we still perpetuate. We are singing along to a song that we just forgot the lyrics.
When you start to think about it again, our Christmas traditions are really strange.
What makes the reindeer fly in the air?
Why do people bring pine trees into their houses at the Winter Solstice, placing brightly colored red & white packages under the trees, and hang stockings over the fire place? Many questions have been left hanging by those kids that never grew up wanting to know more about these strange mythical traditions
Every child who ever grew up believing in Santa had a lot of questions. As adults, we never really figured them out either. We feel guilt for lying to our children… until we realize, we may have been telling the truth, just were not told the whole story. Some jolly old fat man did once fly through the sky with his favorite animals, crawling through chimneys and finding little red/white gifts under pine trees. We just weren’t told he was tripping on mushrooms.
How did Santa ever make it to such deep importance in our society? Normal people should be completely drunk or worse to actually see something like that.
Many anthroplogists now agree that "Santa is a modern counterpart of a shaman, who consumed mind-altering plants and fungi to commune with the spirit world"
derive from shamans in the Siberian and Arctic regions who dropped a bag full of hallucinogenic mushrooms into locals' tents as presents in late December.
this actually hits a bunch of our traditions
linked back to Shamans from the Arctic Region in Siberia (is it a coincidence that Santa Claus is from the North Pole?
A tradition during the winter solstice, shamans used to collect some Amanita Muscaria (bright red/white, and considered Holy Mushrooms, also poisonous/hallucinogenic)
dry them in stockings over a fire
The Amanita Muscaria is incredibly toxic in their natural state – so to minimise these effects the Shaman would dry them out
and then give them as gifts
using an opening in the roof of the tent (ancient chimneys) through which people entered and exited, made because in that period snow is usually blocking doors. (why else would a big man like Santa ever want to pass through a tiny hole on the roof?)
amanita Mushrooms, similar to their modern red and white gifts, are found beneath pine (“christmas”) trees.
fungi flourish in moist, dark places. The environment under the generous shade of a pine tree provides optimal conditions for mushrooms to grow. So, perhaps it is no coincidence that the first place we run to on Christmas morning is the pine tree in the living room.
Pine trees were a favorite of the shamans, highly cherished
When the Shaman would gather the Amanita Muscaria, they traditionally wore red and white outfits to symbolise the treasured mushroom
Caribou (or Reindeer) also go to great lengths to get a taste of Amanita Muscaria. They love the stuff. They can eat them without harmful effects – although it can often cause them to behave drunkenly and prance around (what were some of the reindeer names again… dancer and prancer?)
Siberians eating the mushrooms may have hallucinated that they, and the grazing reindeer, were actually flying
for humans, a common side-effect of mushrooms is the feeling of flying, so it’s not surprising the legend about Santa’s reindeer is they can fly.
gnomes: The Dutch version of Saint Nicholas is sometimes assisted by "Black Pete”, a gnome-like “Dark Helper”, who is probably the remnant of an ancient pagan deity associated with the solstice celebration.
aspects of ancient midwinter deities and wild men emerging from the dark forest ringing bells, bringing luck, and disciplining children.
And last but not least - Rudolf’s red nose looks an awful lot like an Amanita Muscaria mushroom cap.
even the names of rudolf’s fellow reindeer… all names of what can happen when tripping on shrooms… dancer, prancer, vixen… Dasher, Dancer, and Prancer suggest the buoyant, ecstatic feelings invoked by mushrooms. Cupid and Vixen could refer to the amorous or "peace and love" feelings mushrooms tend to induce.
Comet becomes a kind of code word for astral travel under the influence of entheogenic mushrooms.
donner = to give, to donate
blitzen is German translation for "lightning," just as Donner may be a German translation for "thunder." Lightning and thunder, like all sights and sounds under the effect of mushrooms, are amplified and intensified.
"It's amazing that a reindeer with a red-mushroom nose is at the head, leading the others," he said.
reindeer herders use bags of amanita to keep them together and avoid losing any strays.
Animal Signs
rudolf was most likely a female. males only had horns during mating season, in the spring.
also, jesus was most likely not born on christmas, but closer to february, when sheep were watched over as in the stories of the bible. His bday was most likely shifted to match the pagan holiday so more people would more easily assimilate
Lost Meaning
Most of our most cherished holiday traditions are actually intricate links to past cultures. It is impossible to follow a single thread - but we can see how far back we can make connections. Stories are so intertwined, tangled up, but all come from somewhere.
Holly, ivy and other greenery like mistletoe were used to ward off evil spirits and celebrate new growth during winter
Holly was considered a “noble” of the woods, alongside oak, ash, hazel, yew, pine and wild apple, and can still be found under the shrub layer in native woodlands.
Christians then used holly to symbolize the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when he was crucified and its red berries to represent his spilt blood.
Mistletoe was a symbol of love and friendship in Norse mythology, eventually leading to kissing under the mistletoe
Christmas trees were adorned with lights and tinsel in many Irish homes before the globalized trade in Christmas decorations
Toadstools, or mushrooms in general (again, Mario!) had a deep relationship with winter, growing as red & white “presents” under pine (christmas) trees in the wild
Lucky Amanita
As Amanita muscaria were collected and dried during the summer, they would be shared and consumed in the winter months as they were easily stored for the winter (if lucky to have enough left over!).
To have dried Fly Agarics remaining by the arrival of the Winter Solstice and Christmastime was a lucky year.
sign of good luck, similar to the way the Irish view four-leaf clovers.
The toxic mushroom cap was commonly mixed with milk to attract and kill flies – an alternative method to chemical pesticides. insecticide on organic farms
Many traditions require some form of cleansing to greet the New Year.
The appearance of the Chimney Sweep (in Germany) on the New Year is thought bring good luck, great for an otherwise lowly figure, met with reverence and good cheer.
Folk images of the Chimney Sweep often depict him spilling forth with tokens of good luck
familiar four-leafed clover
red and white amanita mushroom. in Victorian times, this particular type of fungus was a symbol for chimney sweeps
The Chimney Sweep bearing gifts begs comparison to another seasonal fireplace visitor, Santa Claus (from the Dutch Sinterklaas, or "Klaus of the cinders"),
also symbolic of the Norse God Thor, whose traditional altar is the family hearth (place in front of the fire).
hallucinogen that is most famously associated with shamanism in the Old World. It is a distinctive mushroom with, typically, a bright, blood-red cap
It shares a symbiotic relationship with certain trees, especially the birch, and it is no accident that the birch tree was the Siberian shaman's "World Tree," a kind of "cosmic axis" onto which it was envisaged the flat wheels or planes of the universe were fixed: the underworld, the "middle earth" of everyday existence, and the upper heaven world. It was the way between the worlds.
Symbiotic relationship with pine trees: It helps the tree uptake minerals, and in return, the mushroom mycelium receives carbohydrates from the tree that allows it to grow.
honors a reverence of nature and the beauty of the forest
Religions
valued by pre-Christian shamans
and early Christian gnostics
may have been referred to in ancient Indian Vedic texts as the mystic plant, Soma, a bringer of wisdom and power to those who consume it.
Artwork of the most recognized mushroom on earth.
old Disney movies, Super Mario Brothers video games and all the Smurfs cartoons
Christmas decorations around the world, esp Scandinavia and northern Europe.
Children's story books, songs and artwork
Germanic Stories
The tradition of gifting mushrooms has stuck around in its imagery, especially for those of German, Austrian or Slavic descent who still exchange the pretty red-and-white fungi (or ornaments of them) at Christmastime
Fly-agaric-infused milk giving ecstatic hallucinations, and brief escape from the dullness and demands of everyday life.
Shamanic rituals in Siberia, Lithuania, Lappland
Beserkers – ferocious Norse warriors – used these mushrooms to induce a feeling of wild invincibility, sending them “berserk” enough to wreak utter havoc in battle.
Odin, the Norse chief god associated with wisdom, war and more
Wotan, Odin’s Germanic equivalent, leads his followers across the sky in a wild hunt on either the winter solstice or New Year’s Eve.
Soma, the intoxicating Vedic ritual drink featured in the Rig-Veda, the Hindu sacred text
"gluckpilz" ("lucky mushroom" in German) is deemed fortuitous in Central and Eastern Europe, where there are remnants of respect for its ancient use as a shamanic hallucinogen.
Even among all the goddesses, angels, dictators, movie stars, billionaires and prophets, Santa still holds his own after thousands of years.
Moms today wait in long lines in the mall with crying babies to get a photo of a man in a costume.
He embodies a collage of past guises
Grandfather Frost, midwinter deity for cold climate Earth magic
Sinterklass
Giver of gifts on Jesus’ “birthday”: early Christian Church
Father Christmas, Christian Saint during the medievil Cult of teh Saints
Delight of children
Advertising icon
He brings families together, generates billions of dollar in sales.
In a country where the birth of a Messiah barely registers as a cultural memory in its namesake “christ-mas”, Santa remains clear. As it turns out, Santa’s legend is much older than the thing Romans tried so hard to use as a uniting force: Jesus Christ and Christianity. Santa has links that reach back to the Ice age, 11k years, rather than 2k.
I grew up hearing of the “true meaning of Christmas” over the materialism of the time, either to mean the art of giving, but also to say lets go back to its religious beginnings. But i was never told the whole story, or the REAL beginnings, just the pseudo one.
There seems to be something important going on with Santa. There has to be a reason we have carried him with us for so lng.
11k years ago: Santa has links that reach back to the Ice age
When we think of Christmas, we picture a certain setting. Snow, pine trees, reindeer chimneys and big fluffy red and white jackets/hats and stockings over a fire. This puts us to a very particular place in time. The plants and animals bring us to an even more specific place, somewhere near the “north pole”: Siberia after the Ice Age.
The date of Christmas coincides with the Winter Solstice: a day in the Northern Hemisphere that is the shortest day and longest night of the year.
But when you have the longest night, you also know every night after this will be shorter. It is a night of celebration.
The non-religious parts of “Christmas” - the feasting, the evergreens, exchanging of gifts, celebrations of (and in) snow and cold weather - long predate the birth of Christ.
So let’s go back to the setting of Christmas that has shaped our language (and dreams) of it today
30k years ago, oldest cave paintings found in SW Europe during the ice age, some of the coldest and harshest conditions our species has ever faced. human figures are somewhat rare, focusing more on the animals of the time - reindeer and now extinct whooly rhinos and cold adapted elephants.
In Europe, at the tundra edge of the ice, small communities of hunters followed herds of animals through generations.
At the same time, warmer areas moved to worship of new deities: mother-goddesses, fertility cults, gods of battlefield, and much later, christianity and other major religions that pushed all the others out. But, far to the north, ancient shamanic traditions from deep in the Ice Age lived on, in the Lapps of northern Scandanvia and Siberia.
1800s and 1900s, explorers, missionaires and anthropologists observed and recorded ancient earth magic traditions of the Siberian norther world, which still holds onto a strong element of continuity across the northern world, across to North America and Greenland (again, latitude sharing a history bc of its same climate and animal conditions).
The shamans linked summer and winter to a deeper reality, building a bridge between the everyday experience to the unknown underlying magical world that brought life to all things outside of our control. Our modern day santa is genuinley a part of this ancient heritage.
Somehow, a pre-Christian “Santa” is remembered in the deep in the subconcious of our collective memory of a very ancient, very cold, northern tradition.
“Christ” mas
pre-0AD: virgin births were already tales that existed from other stories.
Some believe the story of the virgin birth might also come from mushroom-centric lore. Long ago, in a time before microscopes and widely-held understandings about reproduction, a mushroom would have appeared to have grown without a seed: their spores are microscopic, so they would not have been visible to the naked eye.
This would likely have appeared miraculous to those living in less enlightened times. A living thing not born of a seed, not grown in the "traditional" way... just like the birth of a certain messiah many celebrate today
0AD: Since pre-Christian times, Winter time had always been a time of festivities and celebration, with music, dancing, banquets, and gatherings.
Germanic peoples had the Midwinter festival, Yule, the Winter Solstice, Dec 21st
Romans had the festival of Saturnalia, an ancient festival in honor of the god Saturn, Dec 17th through 23rd
Jesus was most likely not born on christmas, but closer to february (see animal tellings)
200 AD: Evidence of shamanic ancestors in the Siberian areas now between russia and China, with religious (shamanic) ties to much later 1600’s dynasties
274 AD: Celebration of the birth of Invincible Sun started by Emperor Aurelian in was being commonly celebrated in Rome on December 25.
Since the festivities appealed everyone (even the Christians), the church moved the celebration of the birth of Jesus to December 25. One of the most important goals of Christian cultural revolution was doing away with the traces of paganism or transforming and Christianizing them.
Both holidays have strong emphasis on rebirth and new beginnings with the passing of the shortest day of the year, and they have a strong presence of amanita/mushroom related traditions.
270 AD: Saint Nicholas, in fact a real person, born into a wealthy Christian family born in mediterranean northern Turkey (which was once part of Greece and the Roman Empire)
While details of his life are now shrouded in legend, he was known for his generosity and loving care of people of his port town, Myra as Bishop
300’s: Bishop Saint Nick existed in Mediterranean port city of ancient Greece/Turkey, known for his kindness to children and common folk. The people called him a Saint after his death.
got an injection of Dutch traditions involving the Turkish St. Nicholas (who came to be called Sinterklaas by small Dutch children) from the Dutch colonialists — and found immortality in its current form in early 20th-century America
Ancient stories carried into Great britain, mixed with certain Germanic and Nordic myths involving
Wotan (the most powerful Germanic god)
Odin (his Nordic counterpart) or another great god going on a midnight winter solstice ride, chased by devils, on an eight-legged horse, along with the ofudning myth of amanitas from the drops of blood and sweat of the reindeer. Over time, this horse with eight legs, combined with Arctic reindeer prancing and flying around (on amanitas), melting together into eight prancing, flying reindeer.
325 AD: The REAL Saint Nick was one of the bishops included in the Council of Nicea
At one point in the council, Bishop Nick is said to have defended his stance on Jesus’ role as deity, ending in a fistfight with another bishop, and shortly thrown in prison.
They decided on things like if Christianity should be legal, and if Jesus should be considered human or holy, and what kinds of oils can be used as holy oil, generally choosing mediteranean oils over anything else that grows in the northern regions, enforcing a hold on local trade)
336 AD: The earliest mention of December 25 as the date of Christmas in the Philocalian Calendar.
As christianity began to be spread more effectively after it was adopted by Roman Empire, and most churches today celebrate Christmas on December 25 (with exception). This transformation didn't took place immediately, finally (mostly) set in the 500’s even in places where the Roman Empire was most dominant.
Dec 6, 343 AD: upon his death, Bishop Nick was sainted unofficially by the people of Myra.
405 AD: Invention of Armenian alphabet, and officially setting of their church calendar to Jan 6th for Christmas (before the calendar was changed, and Jesus’ “birth” day moved.)
500’s: The date of Christmas in the Roman Empire finally (mostly) set on Dec 25th
Armenian Orthodox Church retained the oldest tradition of Jan 6th (outside the borders of Roman Empire). Their church did not have to worry about changing their date to compete with a Sun Tradition of the east.
Other churches that celebrate Christmas on January 7th include: Russian, Georgian, Ukrainian, Macedonian, Karabakh, Serbian, Coptic and Ethiopian
The Christian Church combined (based on a council and voting) the birth of jesus with celebrations of people who had been celebrating other customs for many hundreds, even thousands of years, customs they would not be readily giving up, in an attempt to gradually erase the old pagan holidays. They tried pretty hard, even outlawing Christmas for 15 years in the 1600’s, but based on the existence of christmas celebrations today, failed miserably.
870: Vikings. Beserkers – ferocious Norse warriors – used these mushrooms to induce a feeling of wild invincibility, sending them “berserk” enough to wreak utter havoc in battle.
1066 As the legend goes, a chimney sweep saved the life of King William of Britain from a runaway carriage. The grateful king invited his rescuer to the upcoming wedding of his daughter and officially declared all chimney sweeps to be lucky.
in Eastern European countries it’s good luck to rub your buttons when you pass a Sweep.
1200: chimney sweep was an essential part of London since the customary fire in the middle of the room was replaced with a chimney
1300’s-1500’s: The Renaissance. A very religious santa.
1300’s: Folklore of a religious Father Christmas, Saint Nick, depicting a long red robe, sometimes with trim and sometimes without, dressed like a cardinal in red.
But the pants? And the hat? And the boots? They’re nowhere to be found on him.
1500’s: By the time of the Protestant Reformation, Sant Nick was well established December gift giver from Holland to Belgium, across Germany and into Central Europ.
He was a tall, dignified, white-bearded man dressed in the traditional red of a Catholic bishop.
1532: Tradition of gifts for new years, (and excesses of the church)
During the Tudor period in England, it was customary for Catholic popes to gift distinguished ppl or royalty with golden roses, including a “tree forged of fine gold” to King Henry (“a man known for great appetite, especially receiving gifts at the New Year in January”). A few of the golden roses gifted by the pope still exist today.
1590: Siberian tribes unified under a single cheiftan, and placed shamanism at the center of his state's ritual, above military campaigns for the Jianzhou Jurchens
1600s: A very Dutch Sinterklass was brought across the sea to New Amsterdam (aka modern day New York) by colonists. Saint Nick came to America, then Santa Clause was given to the world. Sant Nick was most revered in Holland, a town of seafarers and traders.
1609: The Dutch East India Company entered New York Bay, and established NY.
Henry Hudson, its english captain, sails up the mighty river that now bears his name. He went as far as present-day Albany, claiming all the territory he explored for the Netherlands. The colony of New York was built as its capital (new amsterdan at the time)
The love of the old Catholic Saint Nick came with them… Sinterklass with his white horse rode over rooftops and came down the chimney to leave goodies in well behaved children’s shoes on Dec 6th, just as they had in Holland.
But outside of these old NY Dutch families (as were the author’s families), Saint Nick was virtually unkown to most americans until a poem was published in the 1820’s.
1666: The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam peacefully changed hands and renamed by the British to New York.
1666: The great fire of london
When the city was rebuilt, building regulations were changed, requiring hiring a chimney sweep every year, along with building codes and taxes, also leading to employment of children to do the dirty work
1644, Qing seized Beijing (to begin their conquest of China), named it their new capital and erected an official shamanic shrine there. Emperors and professional shamans (usually women) conducted shamanic ceremonies until the end of the dynasty in 1912.
1644- 1660, Christmas was officially illegal by the Christian church, trying hard to erase the celebrations of the pagans with the somber observance of Christ’s (voted upon) “birth” day
And this interplay has always held tension.
Church officials have condemned the excesses of Christmas celebrations for centuries (and admittingly, they have seemed to have gotten out of control. But it seems hypocrytical when you learn of the gold-laden roses that the pope used to give out to royalty and other dignitaries during the season).
For over a thousand years, edicts have been published, priests deployed all over Europe to speak against the excessive consumption of food and alcohol, and general good times associated with dancing, singing and celebrating around the decorated evergreen trees. They worked hard to focus the masses attention onto the more somber observation of the birth of Jesus, which turns out, was not even on this day.
To some, even the culturally neutral wish of “Happy Holidays” is an insult to the religious observation they feel was the origination of the celebrations.
Even better, the Christian gospels give us no reason at all to associate the birthday of a historical man named jesus with the already deeply embedded Winter Solstice. They actually hint at an earlier spring date, since the shepards are said to have been “abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night,” which was done at the time of year when lambs were born and most vulnerable to predators and weather - in February and March.
The church made a very conscious decision to associate the joyful celebration of Jesus’ nativity with an already ancient and well established festival celebrating the longer days ahead and victory of light over darkness.
1644- 1660, Christmas was officially illegal.
1647: English Parliament passed laws to stop the celebration of Christmas at all - religious or not - declaring it all un-biblical and essentially sinful.
From 1656, legislation was enacted to ensure that every Sunday was stringently observed as a holy day - the Lord's Day.
(ironically “SUN-day” is a pagan relic to worshipping of the sun, dating back to the first Constantinople, the pagan Roman Emperor who moved the religious day from Saturday (per the Jewish sabath, sabado) to Sun-Day. He converted to Christianity on his death bed, but the day’s nomenclature stuck)
By contrast, shops and markets were told to stay open on 25 December
In the City of London, soldiers were ordered to patrol the streets, seizing any food they discovered being prepared for Christmas celebrations.
Religion of the day was centered around excessive social behaviour and ritual
They were encouraging subjects to treat the mid-winter period 'with the more solemn humiliation because it may call to remembrance our sins, and the sins of our forefathers, who have turned this feast, pretending the memory of Christ, into an extreme forgetfulness of him (ahem… it was never about him in the first place…), by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights'.
Yea, you try telling a whole of Europe to stop celebrating and start repenting on Christmas instead. Prohibition of Christmas proved very unpopular, and pro-Christmas riots broke out
1660, Christmas was officially legal again.
and lucky visit from a chimney sweep (showcasing the lax child labor laws, and extension of a story of a chimney sweep saving a king from a runaway carriage in the 1700’s)
Early 1700’s: a Swedish prisoner of war reported seeing Koryak tribespeople
waiting outside huts where mushroom sessions were taking place, waiting for people to come out and urinate. When they did, the warm, steaming tawny-gold nectar was collected in wooden bowls and greedily gulped down. The Amanita muscaria effect could apparently be recycled up to five times in this manner, and, remarkably, was less likely to cause the vomiting associated with direct ingestion
1743: First time the word “Xmas” appeared in a letter
Can be seen as an abbreviation to Christmas, or as X’ing Christ out of the festivities
1760-1840: The wealth generated by the Industrial Revolution created a middle class that could afford to buy presents, and factories meant mass-produced goods.
1773: Another great increase in the use of small children as chimney sweeps in England in an attempt to be more humanitarian. They hired straight from orphanages, to help give them some money to hopefully survive longer than the year in the workhouses. Italy, Belgium, and France all used Climbing Boys too.
1775: doctor in London noticed a connection between chimney sweeping and scrotal cancer in a brief report
Until then, many doctors mistook the sores for the French pox or other venereal diseases, esp bc showing up on penises. theyd go in naked, hot and sticky
1780s: The "Shamanic Code" was translated into Chinese and published, but outsiders had little understanding of these practices.
Prior to the early 1800s, Christmas in America was a religious holiday, plain and simple.
From a season of misrule characterized by drink, of the inversion of social roles in which working men taunted their social superiors, and of a powerful sense of God’s judgment, the holiday had been transformed into a private moment devoted to the heart and home, and particularly to children
1800’s: In England, chimney sweeps start to get hired to show up to weddings for good luck, often making a nice secondary income by dressing in their traditional top hat and tails and appearing at weddings, his jacket also having 13 buttons for luck.
A similar outfit is also traditional amongst sweeps in Poland, Slovenia, and Croatia.
They began receiving the cast-off clothes of town dignitaries; in particular, those from the local funeral director.
1810’s traditional Dutch children’s song: Sinterklaas Komt! (Saint Nicholas is Coming!)
Popular contemporary image of Santa Claus forming
The figure of Father Christmas evolved over centuries out of other pagan traditions, with amusing hints of the memory of Amanita-based shamanism enshrined
Most of the modern elements of Santa cobbled together in the 1820s:
in the dress and traditions of Siberian shaman’s red/white fur trimmed suit, mirroring that of their favorite amanita mushrooms, plus the “bells of the costume”, or pendants to hold hoods from their eyes on migration trecks
idea of santa clambering down a chimney in the snow (entry via the smoke hole into Siberian yurts w doors blocked by snow)
and reindeers pulling the sleigh, and magical flight of santa as a superb expression of the shamanic flight of the spirit
the Norse god Thor flew in a chariot drawn by two goats, which have been replaced in the modern retelling by Santa's reindeer
1800’s: Christmas tree introduced to America by German Immigrants
In 1821, New York printer William Gilley published an anonymous sixteen page booklet where flying reindeer are introduced into the Santa Claus narrative. he responded in an interview:
the idea of Santeclaus was not mine nor was the idea of a reindeer. The author of the tale submitted the piece with little added information. However, he did mention far in the north near the Arctic lands a series of animals exist, and these hooven and antlered animals resemble the reindeer and are feared and honored by those around them
1823: The popular poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas" debuted at a family party by Clement Clarke Moore, written for his wife and kids
Showcases the mixed references to all kinds of ancient mythology (and no mention at all of Christ’s bday, or medieval Catholic bishop, esp interesting by a prominent devout catholic).
living in New York, with a german wife who very possibly grew up with these stories being told possibly with many of the poem’s concepts
some details, like the Dutch reindeer names, possibly lifted from earlier work by Moore’s friend Washington Irving.
1822: “Twas the Night before Christmas” poem written and presented on Christmas Eve to his family as a gift at a party
1823: The poem was published anonymously in the paper, and went viral, printed thousands of times in newspapers and magazines over the next few decades.
1844: Moore was hesitant to take credit for so “frivolous” a poem, but eventually it officially appeared in a colleciton of his more scholarly works, under his own name.
1843: Charles Dickens’ book A Christmas Carol, published
1845 a story comes out featuring Zwarte Piet in “Saint Nicholas and his Servant”
In Holland, Santa, or “Sinterklaas,” as he’s known to the Dutch, doesn't have reindeer; he has a little helper named Zwarte Piet, literally Black Pete, who charms children with pepernoten cookies and a kooky demeanor while horrifying foreign visitors. At the time, The Dutch were deeply involved in the slave trade. The Dutch empire spread across three continents and included the colonies of Suriname and Indonesia.
1861-1865: Civil War in America
gifts were home made during times of scarcity, and troops did what they could to makeshift decorations around camp
1863: Thomas Nast, another New Yorker and German immigrant illustrated a more modern santa, hundreds of times, after famous for his satirical drawings through the war i Harper’s weekly, a popular political
1875 using chimney boys was outlawed, and later became romanticized. Showcased in Mary Poppins as a good-natured, agile men, with a chorus from the song, Chim Chim Cher-ee bringing in their associations good luck.
By the 1910s and 1920s, chimney sweeps were sufficiently rare that meeting one at any time of the year was considered lucky.
By the 1900’s, Santa was as American as apple pie. and a symbol of the middle class culture that so many millions of immigrants aspired.
1900’s European artwork of wintery scenes regularly feature the magic mushroom along with other tokens of luck for the New Year. (German’s name for it translating to “lucky mushroom”)
In some images, the mushrooms are just small little details; in others, they are the focal point, along with chubby-cheeked kids and elves excited for Christmas, with other tokens of luck, each their own evolving myths
like a pig (symbol of money and prosperity?) German phrase “Schwein haben” [literally to have a pig] means ‘to be lucky’ and a peculiar New Year’s tradition in Germany is the gifting of marzipan pigs for good luck, and shows up in ancient board games for luck
irish four leafed clover, Ireland is home to more four-leaf clovers than any other place. The earliest mention of "Fower-leafed or purple grasse" is from 1640 and simply says that it was kept in gardens because it was "good for the purples in children or others”
and lucky visit from a chimney sweep (showcasing the lax child labor laws, and extension of a story of a chimney sweep saving a king from a runaway carriage in the 1700’s)
1905, Russian anthropologist reported when reindeer dine on certain mushrooms, they also develop an insatiable passion for urine, their own and that of humans; so much so that men urinating in the open ran a real risk of being run down by them galloping towards them from all sides (does this mean they were taking the mushrooms??)
we very possibly got the idea to start drinking the urine of some person/animal eating the mushroom from watching the reindeer do it and still get the high effects.
the active constituents in Amanita muscaria remain intact, and many of the toxic compounds broken down by the other mammal’s digetsive system. Maybe tomorrow’s medicine may be some version of mimicking this chemical reaction to make the psychedelic easier to experience w less side effects.
Santa as money pit
However Santa was able to visit, his gifts started off small. Talk to people from small rural towns in Europe, and they will tell you of some sweets, an orange, and maybe eventually, a small toy or book.
1920’s: through the economic boom years (after manufacturing set off feverishly during WWI), gifts became more elaborate. Incomes rose and cheaper mass-produced toys (and plastics) became available.
Possibly the strongest connection of children to Santa in America came through the airwaves of 1920s radio broadcasting on the nights leading up to christmas, going to bed with visions of Christmas morning and renewed motivation to be a good boy.
1924: Macy’s department store Parade (the only thing missing was rudolph at this point)
1930: Hungarian and English postcards featuring young Chimney sweeps with red amanita psychedelic “lucky” mushrooms
Interestingly, even as late as Victorian times in England, the traditional symbol of chimney sweeps was a fly agaric mushroom — and many early Christmas cards featured chimney sweeps with fly agarics
1930’s: the first sign of our favorite red-nosed reindeer can be seen in the ad departments of Montgomery Ward Dept stores distributed by the millions in a giveaway booklet. (whether they connected the red nose with the mushroom amanita can only be speculated)
1930’s-1950’s: Coca cola ads of Santa by Haddon Dundblom institutionalized the image of the jolly, white nearded man in a red fur trimmed suit who works so hard that even he needs a break with his feet up, coke in hand.
1933 Santa gets an image upgrade via beautiful advertising of Coco-Cola
Santa himself, and his outfit meticulously defined by Sundblom’s rosy-cheeked illustrations (cementing in many prior legends, and commercial interest)
Santa himself, and his outfit meticulously defined by Sundblom’s rosy-cheeked illustrations
1939: Santa’s featured at the Montgomery Ward Department stores in a give away booklet (2.4 million copies for free) entitled "Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer,” written by someone in the advertising department.
1950’s baby boom: children born to the post war boom were brought up with high expectations for Christmas morning. Shiny new bikes, talking dolls (with very specific skin colors and sexist connotations), battery operated robots, and cowboy or princess outfits to good boys and girls. (and a new car on lease for your parents)
Even devoutly catholic homes had children admitingly going to bed dreaming of Santa, not baby Jesus
Santa’s image was enthusiastically (and beautifully) taken up by the ad industry to sell goods - first children’s toys, but later to everything from electric gadgets to luxury toys, everyone needing to buy something for everyone they know.
The mall was now Santa’s headquarters. The modern santa is always trying to sell you something.
1960’s Mothers being the major unsung heroes of Christmas - and everything happening in the home, including the shopping, decorating and cooking, not to mention vaccuming up whole forests of spruce needles over the years.
While the dad’s brought in the money (at the time, women could not get the jobs that afforded this opportunity), and if you were lucky, also spent time with you. If really lucky, maybe your parents even told you fantastical stories that lit up your imagination (while they felt guilty about lying to you about a fat man not really showing up in the middle of the night, and them not really knowing why they were keeping up the “lie”, or knowing what any of it stemmed from)
2010: Pharmaceutical journalist, Andrew Haynes wrote that animals deliberately seek out the red and white spotted mushroom in their habitats, as they “have a desire to experience altered states of consciousness”
Our evolving image of santa matches the zeitgeist, or spirit of a culture, matching a specific time and place
We start with the Shaman in the wintery woods of Siberia who celebrates the passing through the darkest of winter, and tells his stories of psychadelic trips flying with ancestors and his reindeer
With no real connection to jesus at all, other than a manipulated birthdate over stubborn pagan/simple folk traditions based on seasons and agriculture, and maybe most meaningful/sticky aspect today: creation of the WORD “Christ-mas”
Melted into the Saint Nicholas of medieval Europe, who transforms into a mediteranean chubby saint, holy man and high ranking bishop of the church who serves the community and does nice things for children, the poor and needy.
To the Saint Nick who survives the Reformation of Europe with a mix of Germanic mythology of an 8-horsed sled,
During a time when christmas was becoming less religions while also sentimentalizing childhood and coziness of being at home in the Netherlands.
For Americans, Santa embodied middle class comfort, spending more time at home, the ability to afford presents that were getting increasingly more extravagant, along with poems and illustrations that kept children’s imaginations alive and kept them wanting to be well behaved, while also attracting revenue through ads, and the aspiration for millions of new immigrants to this lifestyle of eventual cheap mass produced toys
Traditional 12 days of christmas, end on the Feast of teh Epiphay, on Jan 6th, these 12 days meant to be the heart of the holiday season - but anyone who tries to keep Christmas going into early January is really at odds with the 21st century.
Christmas starts the day after thanksgiving (a celebration for annihilating many native populations), on Black Friday, when all the companies are competing for your attention with once-a-year deals. It ends the day after christmas in the return line of your least favorite stores.
As more people become disolutioned with the consumer-good Christmas that has its HQ at the mall, lets face it. all those gifts dont make us happy. WIth the economic realities of teh 21st century America we cant really afford them anyway. We have udnerstandably become a bit cynical of the jolly old man.
some religious people, completley unaware of Santa’s saintly/shamanic/spiritual roots, even go so far as to say Santa is “anti-baby jesus”. To understand Santa is to akcnowledgement of hus embodiment of SO MANY different cultures and legacies, and what could be even a symbol for ANY religious virtue: a loving generosity towards all - and a celebration of life and hoy in the darkest days of the year. Santa is a myth that gives us hope.
Much of our understanding of the world and our place in it is rooted in the mythes we choose, as individuals, and communities, to believe. Human beings have lived and died, killed and been killed, in the name of these great beliefs. The universe continues to reveal itself.
religion, science, tech, politics, philosophy - the whole intelelctual and spiritual superstructure we call “civilization” are all stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world. They’re myths. (our myths say more about us than what we know)
We all must choose our own tools to help us interpret and understand ourselves and our place in the world.
While much of the world may seem to have forgotten Santa’s roots as a winter Solstice holy man who loved hallucinogenic mushrooms, or even just a man who did nice things for people - Santa remains a powerful symbol in the world (hopefully for something good).
that generosity of spirit means inclusion.. not necesarily buying or selling anything. to me, this includes religion- which has been pushed and forced on ppl as law and tried to exterminatd any thing else. that, to me, is kind of opposite of the whole point.
so if we want to go back to the “real essence of christmas”, we had it all along:
Our own love and admiration for the holiday is a gift from all the little boys and girls that grew up to be our parents.
being at home, hanging out among trees, and telling stories and eating good food, maybe handing out gifts (which could also be stories, or psychedelic mushroom trips)
To make it all a little less materialistic, my favorite interpretation of the holiday is to require all gifts to be hand made… in my opinion, the TRUE essence of christmas, to me, is spending time together and doing something fun and beautiful. (decorating cookies would be in this category as well… this is not a time to poison ourselves with toxins and plastics, but instead to nourish ourselves with real foods).
The sights and sounds and smells and tastes and oxytocin boosts coursing through your body make it all - and Santa - very real.
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