With the holidays right around the corner, we’ve got Amanita muscaria Christmas legends on our minds. You’ll definitely recognize this mushroom from pop culture references—its distinctive shape, bright red color and white spots have almost become synonymous with the cultural idea of mushrooms themselves. Although it’s easy to find accessories and decor items featuring this fungus, such as our Amanita Minute T-Shirt, not many people know that the Amanita has gained its iconic pop culture status through a long history of symbolic and cultural use dating back to prehistoric times.
Although Amanita muscaria mushroom spores are widely dispersed around the world, experts believe it originates from the Siberian–Beringian region, and its varied uses have spread alongside its natural range. The legend of Amanita as the Santa Claus mushroom is just one of these fascinating threads. Several Siberian and Sami tribes have used Amanita as an entheogen, which has inspired discussions around Amanita’s role in the Christmas story, specifically around Santa Claus and his reindeer. In this article we’ll take a closer look at how myths around its use as a hallucinogen impacted the myth of Santa Claus as we know it.
What are Amanita Muscaria’s Traditional Uses?
Amanita has a long history of significance in several Northern European cultures. Some of its earliest known uses have been as an insecticide or general bug deterrent, hence its common name: Fly Agaric.
It’s worth noting that due to its mind-altering and sometimes unpleasant effects, some cultures have regarded it as poisonous, which is how most field guides will refer to it. According to research by David Arora, author of All That the Rain Promises and More, people in areas such as Siberia, Italy and Mexico boil A. muscaria to remove any toxins and psychoactive compounds, basically rendering it an inert culinary mushroom. A subject of intense debate among mycologists, many scholars still want to make the distinction that it is poisonous.
Of course Amanita muscaria also has a long history of use for its psychoactive properties, and some cultures used it as an ‘entheogen’—a psychoactive substance used for spiritual and ceremonial practices. The altered state of consciousness induced by Amanita muscaria has varied side effects, such as dizziness and distorted reality, but some people have described the effects as spiritual.
Amanita Muscaria Christmas Legends: The Santa Claus Mushroom
The story behind the Santa Claus mushroom theory begins when Amanita muscaria originated in Siberia or the Bering Strait area, and regional tribes began to use it for spiritual purposes. Whereas ethnic Russians avoided the Fly Agaric, considering it poisonous, tribes in these remote locations used it spiritually and medicinally. Although there’s a lot of outside interest in what these rituals actually entailed, what we know is limited.
In neighboring Finland, some Sami tribes used these wild mushrooms in their winter solstice rituals, which caused people to make a connection between their practices and the Christmas tradition. Sami shamans would use the altered states of consciousness induced by Amanita as a source of spiritual guidance and wisdom. Although not much is known about the customs of the Sami peoples, we do know that these rituals were thought to inspire the Christmas mushroom story and early images of a Santa Claus, probably because of the pointed hats and fur-lined clothing of the Sami people.
Most of the literature around the Siberian use of A. muscaria comes from Russian anthropologists and explorers such as Vladimir Bogoraz and Vasily Ivanovich Dal. They were both exiled to Siberia in the early 1900s and spent their time documenting shamanic rituals and other customs. These scholars found that Siberians used mushrooms as an accessory to their spiritual journeys. The mushrooms themselves, however, weren’t thought to symbolize or contain spiritual power on their own; they only helped people tap into a spiritual experience. New identifications of Amanita muscaria as a Christmas symbol are more of an interpretation from outsiders than a reflection on Siberian culture itself.
Amanita Santa Claus Origins: Paganism and Christianity
The connection between Amanita muscaria and Christmas can be traced to long before the twentieth century, dating back to the foundation of Christianity itself. The first instances of Amanita taking on a spiritual or symbolic significance is through its association with the Pagan Winter Solstice as a symbol of fertility. This association is another hypothesis for Amanita’s connection with Christmas. Although we think of Christmas as a story of Christian origins, some scholars have placed it in the broader Pagan canon of celebrations like the winter solstice. Scholars have suggested that the date of Christmas as chosen by Pope Julius I was actually derived from the Pagan solstice as a time of rebirth.
The tangential topic of Paganism and Christian mysticism might be an important thread here. The polarizing Pagan continuity theory, which suggests that Christian traditions originated from Paganism, fits in nicely with theories about the role of mushrooms (and entheogens more generally) in early Christianity. You can read more about this fascinating history by picking up one of many mushroom books on the topic, including La Amanita y Secretos del Santo Grial.
As Christianity took hold throughout Europe, the image of an Amanita Santa Claus solidified. By Victorian and Edwardian times, the association between Santa and the Fly Agaric mushroom spread to England, where Christmas cards often featured the famed mushroom alongside Santa as a symbol of good luck.
Conflicting Views on the Christmas Mushroom Story
It’s easy to see why people are curious about the idea that Santa Claus actually originated from a shamanistic ritual, but scholars and activists are concerned that recent discussions stereotype Sami shamans into Santa-like characters. The weight that cultural outsiders place on the Christmas mushroom story doesn’t match up with these groups’ perceptions of their own practices. This doesn’t mean their inspiration isn’t real, but that it’s more significant from the Christian perspective than it is to these non-Christian groups who may not ascribe Santa Claus and other Christmas traditions to their culture.
Still, the circumstances around the whole myth make it hard to think it’s not inspired by these cultures. There’s some compelling evidence of the connection between Amanita muscaria’s traditional uses and Santa Claus as well as Christmas more generally. Amanita has more connections to traditionally “Christmas themed” things than you would think.
Amanita Muscaria Reindeer Theories
For example, after exposure to Amanita muscaria, reindeer actively seek them out to snack on, seemingly for their psychoactive effects! Interestingly enough, many Sami and Siberian tribes alike practice reindeer herding as a central part of their economic and day-to-day lives. Although we can’t recommend it, people in these areas found that drinking urine from reindeer that recently consumed Amanita muscaria would get them high without the common negative effects. One can’t help but wonder if this has anything to do with Santa and his ‘flying’ reindeer.
Another parallel in nature is that in their natural habitat, Amanita muscaria have a symbiotic relationship with coniferous trees. Their mycelium flourishes on these tree roots so you will see the mushrooms popping up below pine trees. Scholars have drawn parallels between Amanita in their natural habitat and beautifully wrapped red presents under the Christmas tree.
Final Thoughts on Amanita Muscaria & Santa Claus
Although we can’t know the inspiration for Santa Claus myths for sure, it’s hard to ignore some of the parallels that connect Amanita muscaria, Christmas and Santa Claus. Winter solstice rituals in several Northern European cultures may have contributed to these myths, which helps us make sense of how we imagine Santa today. It’s certainly fascinating to think about even if you aren’t completely sold on the connection. Regardless, it’s a great excuse to incorporate more mushrooms into your holiday traditions this year.
For those looking to learn more about theories of psychedelic mushroom rituals in ancient cultures, check out The Road to Eleusis and Sacred Mushrooms of the Goddess.