Red and white Christmas

Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Jesus is set to the 25th. But there are theories claiming he was born in the summer, therefore also conclusions have been presented that its likely that it was set to the 25th of december to replace the pagan festivity of the solstice.

In our century the Solstice is around 21st of desember, but the date of the solstice has changed somewhat over the years so no specific date could coinside forever.

There is a Sami “Christmas story” that I have heard many times while travelling. It tells about the Sami, Christmas, reindeer and amanita mushroom. What is strange about this story  is that I have never heard this from any Sami, and I have also asked a few Sami about this after I heard it abroad, but they didnt know anything about it either. But foreigners I have met present this story as a fact. Here it comes:

“Red and white Christmas colours come from the mushroom Amanita Muscaria.  

In the arctic amongst the Sami and Siberian tribes the reindeer eat the somewhat psycedelic mushroom Amanita (red with white dots), and the shamans among the herders ate the mushrooms too.

The shaman was traveling around with a reindeer sled gifting dryed amanitas mushroom to the people. Because of the amount of deep snow the shaman had to enter through the smoke escape in the roof. “

When I tried to find out where this story came from, I found many sites on the internet that explains this theory in more detail.

And there is something to this story. A fact is that the reindeer love mushrooms, seemingly more than any other food. Once I had the yard full of mushrooms layed out for drying, hundreds of them, when a small flock of reindeers came for a visit and before I managed to run out to scare them away there wasnt one mushroom left. 

The flying reindeer might refer to astral flying from eating the mushroom. Amanita mushroom grows under trees, so that would also explain why we put gifts under the tree, the red and white clothing of the Santa Claus, and the reason why its common to have replica of amanita mushroom as christmas decorations.

People in general and specificly shamans have eaten both amanitas and psilocybe mushrooms, although we have reason to believe that the psilocybe mushroom was more common to eat, since they are easy to find and have a somewhat more reliable effect.

But the part of the story when the shaman enters the homes through the smoke escape is very unlikely, as far as I can see. The lávvu (tepe) or goahti was the most common dvelling from Sapmi and throughout Siberia. It is not possible to be entered from the top, where the smoke goes out. There is far from enough space between the poles for a person to enter. Just like it is not possible for a big bearded man to go down a chimney with a bag of gifts…        

We still don´t know if this is story based on the truth or not. It is possible that the Sami people have forgotten this, and made it taboo since it is a shamanic tradition, but foreigners have taken care of this information. Or this story could be based on false beliefs… or the truth can be something in the middle.  

For a long time the custom of eating amanitas was almost gone, but now the interest is growing, and work is being done to find out the benefits of it. Please do your own research before you plan to eat amanita, as it can be hazardous.

Have a happy holidays!

Example of where you can read more online: http://entheology.com/research/when-santa-was-a-mushroom-amanita-muscaria-and-the-origins-of-christmas/