Christmas is the most iconic holiday in the world and it's full of strange traditions.
Activities like hanging stockings and singing songs about flying reindeer have become so
deeply ingrained in Christmas that we don't even wonder where they came from.
When we trace the origin of Christmas traditions we find that many of them can
be linked to the rituals surrounding the psychedelic mushroom Amanita muscaria.
The large red white spotted Amanita muscaria is the most recognizable
mushroom on earth. Throughout history and across many cultures, people valued this
mysterious mushroom for its powerful hallucinogenic properties. For over a
millennia the indigenous people of the Arctic collected Amanita muscaria these
people were called shaman the word shaman is derived from the Tungus
speaking people of Siberia and connotes a religious specialist
Each year the shaman would pick the Amanita dry them load them into a big
sack and then on December 21st during the winter solstice the shaman would go
from house to house delivering their gifts these shaman were older bearded
men who wore the symbolic colors of red and white to honor the mushroom during
the winter solstice the entryways to people's homes were buried under several
feet of snow so it was easier for the shaman to drop the mushrooms down the
smoke hole this is where the idea of presents down the chimney comes from the
colors of Christmas are red white and green these colors symbolize the red and
white Amanita muscaria under an evergreen tree
Amanita muscaria is found throughout the Northern Hemisphere under conifers and
birch trees just like red and white presents under the Christmas tree
although deaths are extremely rare Amanita muscaria is poisonous in order
to reduce the toxicity shaman would hang the mushrooms on tree branches for them
to dry just like the colourful ornaments on a Christmas tree Santa's flying
reindeer have a similar connection to the hominid to muscaria mushrooms
reindeer are common across europe and siberia and just like the human
inhabitants of these areas they too consumed mushrooms Siberians who ate the
mushrooms may have hallucinate advising reindeer were actually flying Siberians
would also drink the urine of the reindeer because the urine contained the
hallucinogenic compounds without the harmful toxins to add to things
Rudolph led the other flying reindeer with his glowing red nose which might
have been a representation of the Amanita muscaria leading the psychedelic
journey and it's possible at the idea of helper elves assisting Santa might go
back to the spirits encountered by the shaman during a mushroom trip in fact
the entire image of Santa Claus himself closely resembles that of a mushroom
while there are many theories about the true origin of Christmas traditions this
excerpt from James Arthur's book mushrooms and mankind probably best
summarizes the Santa magic mushroom theory why do people bring pine trees
into their houses at the winter solstice placing brightly colored red and white
packages under their boughs as gifts to show their love for each other and as
representations of the love of God and the gift of his son's life it is because
under the pine bough is the exact location where one would find this most
sacred substance the Amanita muscaria in the wild
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