Indigenous Roots of Christmas đ Part 1
Ancient European Traditions & the Female Shamanic Deer Mother
This week, weâre beginning a deep dive into the shamanic, animistic and deep feminine, or simply indigenous roots of Christmas traditions.
This can also be described as pagan Christmas traditions. However, this can get confused within the pagan revival where a lot of traditions and information has been interpreted, guessed, or simply made up.
There is no definitive answer to what is exactly pagan, or pagan influenced, with each Christmas tradition, but there are many clues from across different Ancient European traditions that we can explore.
One popular theory is the psychedelic origin theory of Christmas traditions.
Beginning with the SĂĄmi, indigenous to the region of SĂĄpma (known also as Lapland), which today encompasses Northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Kola Peninsula in Russia.
The SĂĄmi are traditional reindeer herders with shamanic tradition of consuming the red-and-white Amanita Muscaria đ a psychedelic mushroom, that grows primarily around pine trees.
âThey also drank the urine of their reindeer who consume the mushroom as part of their diet and metabolize its toxins without harm, excreting a fluid still full of psychoactive compounds but free from toxins.â1
One of the effects of Amanita Muscaria is the sensation of flight which may have led to the vision of âSantaâ flying with reindeer.
The mushrooms were also typically hung to dry on pine trees, and later collected as gifts.
âSo, 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 Sons life? It is because, underneath the Pine bough is the exact location where one would find this âMost Sacredâ Substance, the Amanita muscaria, in the wild.â
âJames Arthur, âMushrooms and Mankindâ
After the shaman collects the mushrooms, they may return to their yurt by sleigh pulled by reindeer.
âIn winter, snow drifts can cover the yurtâs main entrance, so the shaman enters through the smoke hole at the top (Santa coming down the chimney) to deliver his gifts to appreciative clan members.
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To further dry the mushrooms, the clan members string them up around the fire place. In the morning, they awaken to a ritual feast of dried magic mushrooms (Christmas gifts placed in stockings over the fireplace). Once they ingest the mushrooms, the celebrants leave the physical plane and are transported to the mystical realms of the Cosmic Tree, guided by spirits that live within the mushrooms (Santaâs helpers, elves that live in the North Pole).â2
It appears that the connection between Christmas and the Amanita Muscaria was still represented in the 1900s, perhaps proof of a through-line of these traditions.
The traditional costume of SĂ mi women and men gathering the mushrooms was red and white, again perhaps pointing to how these colors became associated with Father Christmas, and Christmas in general.
Our contemporary image of Santa Claus as a rotund, jolly white-bearded fellow in a red suit (or robe) with white fir trim is a modern version of the archetypal Siberian mushroom shaman. In fact, even today some Siberian male shaman and female mushroom gatherers still dress in ceremonial red and white trimmed jackets when they go to gather the sacred mushrooms.3