Put down the mince pie and step away from the sherry. The real story behind Father Christmas might be a fair bit stranger—and trippier—than the Coke-can red suit implies. There is a theory doing the rounds that suggests our modern Santa isn't just a polished version of Saint Nicholas.
Instead, he might be a psychedelic echo of ancient Arctic shamans who handed out magic mushrooms and drank reindeer pee to get high.
The Traditional Tale Versus Arctic Origins
We all know the standard bedtime story: Santa comes from Saint Nicholas of Myra, the charitable Greek monk from the fourth century, who eventually morphed into the Dutch Sinterklaas. But anthropologists and mycologists have been pointing to a different lineage for years, one that predates the saints entirely. Out in the frozen wilds of Lapland and Siberia, indigenous shamans acted as spiritual conduits for their communities during the Winter Solstice, right when the days were at their darkest.
While Saint Nick was famous for tossing gold coins, these Arctic healers were delivering something a bit stronger: 'gifts of introspection' in the form of the holy Amanita muscaria mushroom. Matthew Salton's animated film Santa Is a Psychedelic Mushroom dives right into this, proposing that our festive traditions are actually a 'shared folklore'—a mash-up of Christian history and ancient, drug-fuelled rituals.
Why Santa Wears Red and White
It is hard to ignore the visual cues once you see them. The Amanita muscaria isn't subtle; it is a bright red toadstool with white spots that looks suspiciously like Santa's gear. In ancient Siberian tradition, shamans actually wore red and white suits to honour these mushrooms, which they treated as sacred.
According to the theory, these shamans would gather the fungi, which happen to grow exclusively under pine trees. It creates a stark image: red and white presents (the mushrooms) sitting beneath the green boughs of a pine tree. It suggests that the Christmas tree in your living room might actually be a symbolic forest floor, hosting the shamans' harvest.
The Reindeer Connection and the 'Magic' Piss
Here is the catch, though: eating Amanita muscaria raw is a bad idea. It is poisonous to humans and more likely to make you violently ill than spiritually enlightened. The shamans needed a way to filter out the nasty bits, and they found a solution roaming in the snow.
Reindeer love these mushrooms. Crucially, their stomachs can filter out the deadly toxins while leaving the psychoactive compounds floating in their urine. Shamans would watch the 'reindeer gang' snacking on the fungi, collect the yellow snow, and drink it to safely access the hallucinations.
Drinking the stuff induced intense visions, often described as 'flying' or travelling to spiritual realms. It certainly puts a new spin on the flying reindeer myth. The sensation of flight experienced by the shaman—and potentially the tribe, who might also partake in the recycled 'gifts'—could be the root of the sleigh-in-the-sky story we tell children today.
@holikela2 Merry Christmas! #santa #christmas #storytime
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Chimneys, Stockings, and Pine Trees
Even the peculiar logistics of Santa's visit make more sense in the context of Arctic survival. During the brutal Siberian winters, snow would often drift high enough to bury the doors of the semi-subterranean yurts. When the main entrance was blocked, the shaman had to climb up and drop in through the smoke hole in the roof—essentially, the chimney.
Once inside, they would share their psychedelic provisions. Some versions of the folklore even claim the mushrooms were hung in socks near the fire to dry out and reduce their toxicity—a practice that looks an awful lot like our modern Christmas stockings.
A Modern Take on Ancient Folklore
Experts like Salton and mycologist Lawrence Millman remain sceptical about a direct, 100 per cent factual link, but they admit the 'vibes are there'. Millman notes that we should view the season not as a 'capitalistic holiday', but as a time for spiritual healing—something the shamans provided in spades.
Whether you believe Santa is a Christian saint or a psychedelic mushroom-eating shaman, the theory adds a fascinating layer of depth to the season. It transforms Christmas from a simple gift-giving holiday into a remnant of ancient human spirituality, where the greatest gift was a journey into the mind.
