A GROUP of US psychedelicists and a UK mycologist have suggested that the image and concept of Santa Claus may be derived from Siberian shamans.
During the midwinter festival in Siberia, which is not far from the North Pole, shamans allegedly entered yurts through the chimney, bringing with them as gifts for the inhabitants a sack of fly agaric mushrooms (Amanita Muscaria) – potent hallucinogenic fungi with broad red caps that are flecked with white spots.
Because the fly agarics are most effective when consumed dry, the red and white mushrooms were supposedly hung by the fireplace, much like the modern American tradition of hanging stockings by the fire.
The reindeers associated with Santa (a red and white Santa, of course) also can be explained by this theory since shamans were known to have drunk the urine of reindeers that ingested the mushrooms. Shamans partook of this questionable tonic because the reindeer’s body would convert the chemicals in the mushroom from a toxic form to a safer hallucinogenic form.
The vision-inducing nature of the entheogenic mushrooms can also account for the flight of Santa and his reindeers.
Why Armenians celebrate Christmas on January 6
The exact date of Jesus’ birth has not been recorded in the Gospels and is not historically known. Despite this mystery date, Christian churches before the fourth century celebrated Jesus’ birthday on January 6.
According to Associate Director of the Eurasia Research Programme at the University of Cambridge Hratch Tchilingirian, Roman Catholic sources hold that the date was changed in the fourth century to December 25 to override a pagan feast dedicated to the birth of the Sun, which was celebrated on December 25.
To undermine this pagan practice, the Church hierarchy designated December 25 as the official date of Christmas and January 6 as the feast of Epiphany.
“However, Armenia was not affected by this change for the simple fact that there were no such pagan practices in Armenia on that date, and the fact that the Armenian Church was not a satellite of the Roman Church,” Tchilingirian writes. “Remaining faithful to their Church traditions, Armenians continue to celebrate Christmas on January 6th until today.”
The ‘arch-heresy of ecumenism’
WHILE Armenians may celebrate Christmas on January 6, Russian Orthodox and other Old Calendarists celebrate it on January 7. Or rather, they celebrate it on January 7 by the Julian calendar, which translates to December 25 on the Gregorian calendar.
In the mid 16th century, the Roman Catholic Council of Trent adopted the Gregorian calendar, which most of the world presently uses.
The Eastern Orthodox Church used the Julian calendar all the way up through the early 20th century, after which some of its members, including Greece and Cyprus, moved to a revised version of the old calendar, known as the Revised Julian calendar.
The Russian Orthodox Church, the largest Orthodox jurisdiction, as well as a number of other Orthodox jurisdictions, including the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Mount Athos, did not adopt the Revised Julian calendar. Along with the majority of Orthodox Christians worldwide, these jurisdictions still use the Julian calendar for religious observation, although all the the countries where Orthodox Christians live have adopted the Gregorian calendar for secular purposes.
In Greece and Cyprus, Old Calendarists maintain that they have not branched off from the mainstream Church not only over a mere calendar. The calendar, in their view, is merely a symptom of what they refer to as the “arch-heresy of ecunemism”.
Does she love me, Santa, or does she love me not?
Nicosia resident Sergios Christou said that 20 years ago Cypriots would put gifts under the tree on January 1.
“It seems people have now been Europeanised and they instead gather and exchange gifts on Christmas,” Christou said.
“For a while we did gifts on both Christmas and New Year’s but that got to be too much. I actually prefer giving gifts on Christmas. It gives the kids more time to enjoy their presents over the holiday period.”
Despite the change in date, Christou said that many of the traditions – like putting biscuits and milk out the night before Santa comes to vist – still exist; they just now come a week earlier. And Ayios Vasilis, the saint celebrated on January 1 has become synonymous with Santa.
“The other day my six-year-old granddaughter suggested that Santa might be happier if we instead put out beer for him this year.”
Christou said that a common village tradition is to cross a dry leaf by a fireplace and then, after making a wish to Ayios Vasilis, toss it into the fire.
“Before tossing the dry leaf into the flames, you would say “Ayios Vasilis Vasilia deixe tze fanerose an me agapa o…” (Ayios Vasilis, show and illuminate if I am loved by…) and then you name whoever’s love you are hoping for.
“If the leaf jumped up after you dropped it in the fire, then that meant the person loves you. If not, you got depressed and tried again.”
