Reindeer that fly. Jolly old elves. A bag full of presents.
Christmas is trippy, right?
There’s a reason. Everybody was on shrooms.
Salon just shared a fascinating article about the rites of Christmas and how they most likely came from psychedelic experiences of shamans under the influence of fly agaric mushrooms.
Writer Troy Farah says that the legend of Santa’s reindeer was inspired by the effects of fly agaric mushrooms.
From the article:
Some historians argue that Santa Claus is actually a “magic” mushroom shaman, as indicated by his red and white outfit. It resembles the psychedelic fly agaric mushroom, a fungus as bright red as Rudolph’s schnoz sprinkled with white flecks like snow. Drawing on this and other evidence, quite a few scholars subscribe to theories that numerous Christmas traditions spawned from pagan psychedelic rituals, even if it’s not a mainstream belief.
“In the oldest known text that seems to refer to lilliputian hallucinations, St. Macarius the Elder of Alexandria (AD 300-390) speaks of ‘little strangers,'” Jan Dirk Blom wrote in his 2010 book “A Dictionary of Hallucinations.” “Ancient Siberian peoples referred to ‘fly-agaric men’ and ‘amanita girls’ in connection with the lilliputian hallucinations said to occur in the context of Amanita intoxication.”
While Santa might not be a spirit guide anymore, there is plenty of evidence that says that most religions were based on mushroom rituals, including Christianity. Whether or not you believe in the psychedelic origins of Christmas, it’s certainly an interesting theory to consider.
Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash
