Did ‘Shrooms Send Santa And His Reindeer Flying? : NPR

Leave it to NPR to find us a new take on a Christmas legend….

He explained that back in 1967 an amateur scholar named R. Gordon Wasson published a book arguing that Amanita muscaria was used in ancient ceremonies by shamans in the Far East. Other scholars then chimed in, noting that in Siberia, both the shamans — and the reindeer — were known to eat these mushrooms. Man and beast alike hallucinated.

You can see the Christmas connections, Pfister said.

“This idea [is] that reindeer go berserk because they’re eating Amanita muscaria,” Pfister said. “Reindeers flying — are they flying, or are your senses telling you they’re flying because you’re hallucinating?”

Look at the Christmas decorations here, he said.

“We use — all over the Western world at least — these Christmas ornaments [which] have Amanita muscaria or other mushrooms.”

And finally, he said, consider the color schemes.

“So here’s a red fungus with white spots. And Santa Claus was dressed in red with white trim.”

Add it all up and what do you get? Pringle connected the dots: “People are flying. The mushroom turns into a happy personification named Santa.”

She said it with a laugh, but the connection between psychedelic mushrooms and the Santa story has gradually woven itself into popular culture, at least the popular culture of mycology, mushroom science.

So every year, when Christmas draws near, Pfister gathers the students in his introductory botany class, and, no doubt with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, tells the tale of Santa and the psychedelic mushrooms.

Link to full Story:   Did ‘Shrooms Send Santa And His Reindeer Flying? : NPR.