The Shamanic Origins of Santa Claus

Psychedelic Secrets of Santa Claus

By Dominic Fagan

Course: Pre University Science

Module: Communications

Instructor: Patricia Carraher

Submission date: December 5th , 2008

Contents

Introduction Page 3 St Nicholas Page 3 The Sami Page 4 The Koryak Page 5 The Shaman Page 6 The Reindeer Page 7 Amanita Muscaria Page 8 Conclusion Page 9 Bibliography Page 9

Introduction

Despite popular belief, the story of Santa Claus did not begin with St Nicholas but goes back thousands of years earlier to what is now known as northern Siberia and is derived from the shamanistic traditions of the tribes indigenous to this area and areas of northern Sweden and Finland.

The mushroom now known as Amanita muscaria or Fly agaric is a psychedelic mushroom which grows wild in many parts of the world including Siberia. This mushroom was sacred to the people of these areas and were considered gifts from God. This mushroom appears in lots of art found in these parts of the world and is in fact widely seen in art and mythology throughout the world even to this day and is usually associated with Christmas, magic, fairies and elves.

Postcards and ornaments from around the world

Most of the modern elements of the Christmas tradition are likely derived from this ancient shamanistic tradition of mushroom worship including the idea of Santa Claus in his sled towed by magic reindeers delivering gifts to everyone one day a year.

In this report I intend on explaining how the legend of Santa Claus made its way from the northern reaches of Siberia to mainland Europe and spread throughout the world and how it became linked with the Christian holy day Christmas.

St Nicholas

It is a widely held opinion that the legendary figure of Santa Claus is derived from the mythical figure St Nicholas who supposedly lived during the 4th

century. St Nicholas is known as the patron saint of children and is said to have brought presents to all the children on the 6th of December, his feast day.

Most modern religious and mythological historians agree that St Nicholas was not a real person but was instead a Christianised amalgam of various historical Bishops such as the 4th century Nicholas of Myra and Nicholas of Sion. This St Nicholas character is also based on depictions of the Teutonic god Hold Nickar. According to legend Hold Nickar galloped through the sky on his 8 legged horse during the winter solstice, granting favours to his worshippers below.

St Nicholas himself is depicted as a hero and miracle worker but the following good deed in particular integrates him into the legend of Santa Claus.

“There was a nobleman who had three daughters, and who had fallen on hard times. As the nobleman could not afford their dowries his daughters had little prospect of marriage; and so they faced a life of prostitution. St. Nicholas heard of this and, one night, threw a sack of gold through a window of the nobleman's castle. The sack contained enough gold to provide for one daughter's marriage. The next night he tossed another sack of gold through the window for the second daughter. But, on the third night the window was closed, so St. Nicholas dropped the third sack of gold down the chimney. On hearing of this, townsfolk began hanging stockings by the fireplace at night to collect any gold that might come their way.”^^NOTE: PREVIOUS EXCERPT TAKEN FROM OTHER SITE

Judging from this fairy tale it is highly possible that this is the origin of the tradition of hanging stockings by the fireplace and the idea of Santa Claus arriving down the chimney.

On the surface the myth of St Nicholas appears to be a plausible explanation for the origin of Santa Claus but as one digs deeper it becomes evident that the legend of Santa Claus goes back thousands of years before St Nicholas to the Koryak tribes of the Arctic circle.

The Sami

The Sami (also called the Lapps) are the indigenous people of the far north of Europe who's territory spans parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. This area is commonly referred to as Lapland.

The Sami worshipped animal spirits and gods of nature and the Amanita muscaria mushroom was the greatest sacrament among Sami people. Sami religion is collectively known as Shamanism. The Sami being proficient reindeer farmers knew that the Reindeers were fond of these mushrooms and they were also aware that consuming the reindeers urine would cause them to have to have visions and hallucinations while minimising the toxic effects associated with the ingestion of this mushroom.

The Sami observed that the mushroom could induce a state of fearlessness, drastically increased pain threshhold, enhanced strength, mental acuity, reflex and rage and were aware that this mushroom could be used in battle.

The Sami were the very first inhabitants of the Scandinavian peninsula and occupied the European Norse countries of Norway, Sweden and Finland for thousands of years before the arrival of the Germanic tribes who settled and mixed with the Sami giving birth to what is now known as Viking culture. As the Viking and Sami culture became interlinked the Vikings adopted many of the Sami traditions and beliefs and it is believed among many historians that the key to the Vikings warrior mentality and spirit was the Amanita muscaria mushroom.

The Vikings savage nature and warrior mentality was unparalleled anywhere else in Europe and this allowed the vikings to invade and conquer many parts of Western and coastal Europe. Following their conquest the Vikings settled in many parts bringing with them their beliefs and traditions. Among them was the legend of Santa Claus. This is how the legend of Santa Claus made its way from the northern reaches of the Scandinavia also known as Lapland to mainland Europe. The legend of Santa Claus did not originate in Lapland though it was originally spread to the Sami people by the older

Koyak tribes of the central Russian steppes who are believed by historians to have occupied northern Russia for as long as 4,500 years.

Sourceshttp://boreale.konto.itv.se/history.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_religion

The Koryak

The Koryak tribes are people indigenous to the far northern and eastern reaches of Russia and evidence indicates that these people have inhabited these circumpolar lands for at least 4,500 years and that these are the predecessors of the Sami and even the Inuit of northern Canada who crossed the Beiring straight thousands of years ago.

Koryak tribe with ceremonial drum, 1915

Like the Sami the Koryaks form of religion is considered shamanism and despite religious persecution the Koryaks have preserved their religion and traditions to this day. Although the Koryak did not have a written language they preserved their beliefs and traditions through art and storytelling. The Koryak people like all indigenous people of the circumpolar territories worldwide were split up into small tribes and living in small tribes in harsh climates such as northern Siberia meant a sense of community was essential and everyone had to pull their weight. For this reason every person in the community played an essential role.

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koryakshttp://www.koryaks.net/history.html

The Shaman

The person with the most important role was the shaman because his role included many modern day occupations such as doctor, priest, guidance counsellor and more. The shaman was highly spiritual and his most highly valued sacrament and arguably the most powerful tool in his box was the Amanita muscaria mushroom.It is known that many different techniques for altering the mind were used by the Koryak shamans such as sensory deprivation, drums, psychedelic mushrooms and more often than not a combination of all of the above. The shaman believed that these altered states of consciousness were a gateway into the spiritual world where we would travel to ask the spirits for solutions to the problems his community faced.

Sources such as art depictions and stories passed down throughout the years indicate that once a year the shaman of the Koryak tribes had a special mission which was to gather Fly agaric mushrooms and deliver them to the people of the community. It was a tradition among the Koryak shamans to do this deed once a year out of good will and did not expect anything in return. For this reason the shaman of the community was considered somewhat of a hero and many modern anthropologists speculate that this is the true origin of Santa Claus. Their grounds for speculate is not based merely on the tradition of the shaman to deliver gifts to the community once a year but it is based on a wide range of facts, traditions and myths which coincide with the modern day Christmas tradition.

Sources:http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/changing/journey/shamanism.htmlhttp://www.sacred-texts.com/sha/sis/sis10.htm

Koryak shaman with ceremonial drum

Reindeer

Reindeer are indigenous to Siberia and lapland and like the Sami the Koryak people were proficient reindeer farmers. Sources indicate that the first people to discover the mind altering and toxin nullifying effect of drinking reindeer urine Koryak shamans.

Modern scientists have discovered that the liver metabolises nearly all of the toxic compounds present in the Amanita mushroom but allows the less toxic compound responsible for the hallucinations to pass through the body undisturbed. For this reason there are high concentrations of the hallucinogenic compounds present in reindeer urine but relatively little toxic compounds.

Although the shaman had no alternative, reindeer provided him with an excellent means of transport mainly due to the fact that since they ate these mushrooms they did not tire easily. The reindeer also provided the shaman with a means entering altered states of mind which were necessary to endure the cold weather and hunger and complete his mission. This is likely where the idea of Santa flying with his magic reindeers originated.

The koryak people lived in crude wooden structure called yurts which during the winter, resembled igloos. In winter these yurts would frequently be

Yurt

Shaman drinking reindeer urine

snowed in so the shaman would take an alternative route down the smoke hole. This is a possible explanation for the origin of the idea of Santa arriving down the chimney.

Sources:http://www.workingdogweb.com/Reindeer.htmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A6084218

Amanita Muscaria

Amanita muscaria is a poisonous and psychedelic mushroom native to the boreal regions of the northern hemisphere. Shamans and people indigenous to the lands all the way from Eastern Russia to the Scandinavian peninsula knew about these mushrooms and utilised them as a religious sacrament.

This mushroom is prevalent in the religious beliefs of the Koryak tribes and is considered to be a gift from God. These mushrooms require specific nutrients which can only be provided by the roots of certain evergreen trees such as pine trees. For this reason this mushroom relies on trees to survive but instead of forming a parasitic relationship with the tree it forms a symbiotic relationship with it by unlocking certain nutrients in the soil allowing them to be absorbed by the roots of the tree.

These mushrooms appear once a year around christmas time and due to their rapid growth they appear over night. The Koryak people were fascinated by this and considered these mushrooms to be gifts from God. Some anthropologists and historians speculate that this is the origin of the tradition of placing the presents under an evergreen tree on Christmas eve.

Amanita muscaria

Modern christmas tree decorations based on the fly agaric mushroom

It is also known that in order for the shaman to decrease the weight of his load he would hang the freshly picked mushrooms on trees to allow them to dry. This would decorate the trees nicely and to the shaman who was regularly under the influence of the mushroom this would be quite a spectacle. This is a plausible theory for the origin of the tradition of decorating the christmas tree.

Conclusion

The depictions of the Koryak shaman offers a more plausible explanation than St Nick for the origin of Santa Claus. It is highly possible that the legend of the Christmas shaman spread from the occupying the most Northern and Eastern reaches of Siberia to the Sami tribes occupying the Scandinavian peninsula. The Sami passed the legend on to the Vikings of Southern Scandinavia who brought the legend with them on their raiding and pillaging campaigns on mainland Europe.

Bibliography

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A6084218 http://www.secondattention.org/articles/psy_christmas.asp http://boreale.konto.itv.se/history.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_religion http://www.workingdogweb.com/Reindeer.htm http://www.koryaks.net/history.html http://www.sacred-texts.com/sha/sis/sis10.htm