SANTA’S MAGIC BY CARISA ROWE

Santa’s Magic

By Carisa Rowe

Before you read this article, Google “old school Christmas cards”. Use retro, vintage, or even Victorian as descriptors. In fact, Google “Victorian Christmas cards” because – well, I don’t wanna spoil your trip. When you return from your journey through the Christmas Absurdia, I’d like to call your attention to a theme you may not have noticed. When I close my eyes and imagine one of these relics of Christmas past – a card lovingly stowed in my grandmother’s memories box, I picture a rosy-cheeked Santa, standing to the left of his cart and reindeer. In the background, snow covered spruce and pine trees line the horizon. In the glow of the vignette, woodland animals like frolic. On this card, and many others like it, scattered in the sparkling frost are small, red mounds flecked with white specks . Closer inspection reveals these mounds to be mushrooms – Amanita muscaria to be accurate. The realization recalls the assorted mercury glass ornaments familiar to my childhood. The red and white mushrooms are recognizable to folks familiar with entheogens and hallucinogens and their image is the one most associated with psychedelic mushrooms. A sudden memory of dangling fungus ornament, with hundreds of colored lights glinting off its metallic finish, drives my curiosity to uncover the relationship between hallucinogenic mushrooms and jolly, ole St. Nick. Psychedelic Santa isn’t all that far-fetched considering the guy believes reindeer can fly. The legend of Santa Claus has been traced back nearly eighteen centuries to a monk known as St. Nicholas who lived in what is now Turkey. Saint Nicholas of Myra was a benevolent monk who traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick, all the while gifting his inherited wealth as he went. St. Nicholas’ legend stretched across countries and continents for centuries. Each rendition of the revered do-gooder evolved with the retelling of his great works until the legend of St. Nicholas eventually landed in New York, New York in the 1770s with Dutch immigrants who had gathered to honor “Sinter Klaas”.

Saint Nicholas was an early Christian bishop and is often depicted with short hair and a low beard, wearing ceremonial robes and habit, adorned with crosses. As the lore of the Grecian saint was adopted throughout Europe, the visage of the philanthrope evolved to the fur-flocked, bearded hippie we all know and love. When Christianity spread into northern Europe and the arctic circle, crusaders were forced to adapt their stories and legends to align with the deeply engrained pagan beliefs and practices of these regions. Much of the traditions we uphold in modern Christmas celebrations are continuations of pagan practices that were adopted by early Christians in order to integrate their faith with resistant civilizations throughout Nordic and tribal civilizations in Europe. The most familiar décor in modern Christmas harkens on pagan beliefs about nature, winter, the sun, and the moon. In particular, the practices that integrate parts of the hardy natural world into everyday life are of note. Guided by shamans and sages, northern Europeans of the era honored nature, the moon, and the sun with traditions surrounding winter solstice. Modern Christmas practices include evolutions of these Saturnalia celebrations. Feasting and gift-giving in these cultures lasted for days and combatted the harsh winter nights with community gatherings and rituals believed to please the g-d so that it would renew the cycle and bring bountiful agriculture in the coming seasons. Wreaths of evergreen are a tribute of Yule to show the promise of spring. In fact, the integration of much of the plant symbology familiar to Christmas comes from these Scandinavian and Germanic civilizations. Decorating evergreens, Yule logs, holly, and mistletoe are all relics of winter solstice celebrations. It reasons then that the small red and white mushrooms that have inconspicuously appeared in Christmas imagery for centuries must also hold some relevance to the etymology of Christmas – and Santa Claus.

Carisa Rowe

is:

A commercial cultivator A writer An event producer A processor & consultant She serves as VP of Oklahoma Womxn Cann Association (OWxCA) Carisa loves two outstanding teenagers, a gaggle of dogs, and dancing.

Instagram @groovygrower thatgroovygrower@gmail.com,

The Pagans of northern Europe and the Arctic circle were deeply spiritual. They revered nature as a manifestation of the favor the g-ds. Shamans were the leaders of settlements and guided people to participate in rituals that played tribute to and incorporated elements of nature to please the g-ds. Evidence of hallucinogen use by spiritual leaders is well-documented in civilizations across the globe so it should not be controversial to suggest that Amanita muscaria, the small red and white mushrooms of Christmas fame – which happen to grow symbiotically with spruce and pine trees, bare some significance to Santa Claus and Christmas rituals. During the northern winters, shamans were tasked with upholding the morale of the community through the short days and long nights in harsh conditions. Freezing temperatures and deep snowfall would drive people into their shelters for days on end, to venture out only when necessary or compelled. Ensuring that people stay sane and well-connected to themselves, each other, and the natural world, shamans would guide their communities to model after the g-ds. Norse g-d Odin was known for his ability to take spirit-journeys, where he could disconnect his spirit from his body and travel great distances incorporeal to carry out his intentions or the errands of his dominion. The Koryak are Siberian people indigenous to the coast of the Bering Sea (between Russia and Alaska) who venerated the red and white fungus as a gift from Big Raven, the first shaman of their peoples and the spirit responsible for human life. In these northern civilizations, shamans would consume entheogens such as Amanita muscarium so that they could take spirit journeys, commune with the g-ds, and connect with nature. These pagan ceremonies relied on totems, relics, and aesthetic mimicry to pay homage to their g-ds, while hallucinogens such Amanita muscaria were ingested to strengthen the tether to the spirit realm. Many of these ceremonies occur outside, even in winter, to be as closely connected to the natural world as possible.

In the coastal Koryak civilization, legend tells of fishers sitting on the cliffs of the Bering Sea, laughing wildly with joy while tripping on A. muscaria. The winter gods of these civilizations were depicted with long hair and heavily bearded, shrouded in cloaks and furs, an adaptation that the people of these regions would also have developed, particularly the shamans, who would have wanted to model themselves as closely after the gods as possible. The Christian narrative absorbed great influences as it integrated into the pagan consciousness. The most obvious examples of the impact that pagan culture had on Christianity are at the holidays. Historical Saint Nicholas was a Grecian bishop turned Turkish monk who lived circa 400 CE who traveled the countryside giving gifts and teaching about wellness of spirit, mind, and body. Modern Christmas features Santa Claus, brightly clad in a vibrant red robe fringed with a white, fur habit and topped by a red and white stocking. He is often hovering near decorated evergreen trees, surrounded by animals, and poised hand out gifts and treats that will bring merriment to all. Santa Claus is the cultural evolution of the legend of St. Nick, as his work transcended seventeen centuries and countless mythologies to teach us that to do the work of g-ds, you must transcend the barrier between the physical and spiritual.