It’s not quite Christmas yet, but have you ever wondered why our northern European Christmas traditions exist in the first place, or where they come from? I’m talking about things like putting presents under a tree which we decorate, hanging stockings of goodies on the mantlepiece, the whole Santa myth of him arriving with his flying, red-nosed reindeer, coming down the chimney, why we leave out a plate of food for him. So, you may be asking, why is any of this relevant with still quite a few weeks to go before Christmas?

Would it surprise you to learn that the source of it all is the amazing, forgotten (to most) Amanita Muscaria mushroom…

Amanita Muscaria season generally runs from August/September through to November/December depending, hence, the tradition was to gather them now, bringing us to the explanation for why we have presents under the tree at Christmas... Well, finding our ”presents” under the tree represents finding Amanitas under trees in the autumn. And, once you’ve found your lovely Amanitas, you need to dry them thoroughly, so traditionally they were kept outside on trees, in the upright position, to spread the spores as they dried from wind and sun exposure. This is where we get our tradition of decorating the Christmas tree. Next, once dried, they needed to be kept dry or they would go bad, very quickly, and the best way to do that was to keep them hanging near or over the fire. So people often used socks, stockings, or something like it, and hung the Amanitas in them around the fire to keep them dry. It may also be the case that, somehow, they knew that exposing the Amanitas to heat, over time, would help convert more of its Ibotenic acid content to a more “user-friendly” chemical, called Muscimol, removing many of the mushroom’s unpleasant side-effects.

And what about the Santa part? Well, he’s all red and white for a start, just like the mushroom….and why down the chimney? Why red-nosed, flying reindeer, and all the rest? Well, it references more of the same northern European shamanic traditions where the shaman travelled by reindeer to visit people with his bag of Amanitas. If the snow was deeper than the height of the door, he would have to enter by the chimney hole, (obviously, not much like a modern dwelling). Once inside he would give the host the mushroom and they, in turn, would give him/her reciprocal food and drink. If you’d been a “good boy or girl”, all year, you’d most likely receive a blessing in the form of an answer to a problem or some guidance from the Amanita’s voice of wisdom or receive healing with a lasting, deep, anxiety-killing sense of peace, calm and connection being imparted… if you were especially deserving, perhaps you’d be blessed with all the above!

It also just happens to be the case that reindeer LOVE Amanitas. One of the more traditional methods of converting iotenic acid was to first feed Amanitas to the reindeer, then once conversion had taken place in the liver of the animal, they then collected and drank the reindeer’s Amanita-laced urine, with most of the undesirable side-effects of Ibotenic acid filtered out. Now…. just how someone discovered that the mushroom is not just still active in urine, but actually BETTER is anyone’s guess but something tells me it would make for a riveting story.…. at least we know why Rudolph has a shiny, red nose and can fly!