All About Santa Claus
Reprinted courtesy of winter edition ACORN News 1995.
H
ave you ever wondered about Santa and what he’s got to do with the
celebration of the birth of Christ? Many theories abound on the character in
the red suit and contrary to the Coca Cola claim that they invented him I will add
another little less known one.
Lapp society folklore tell us that they used to eat ‘magic mushrooms’. The fly
agaric mushroom being one. This is the one commonly featured in children’s
books, bright red with white spots.
Apparently in Lapp society they used to dry mushrooms to eat (DON’T TRY
THIS AT HOME). This was long before alcohol had reached this part of the
world. The Shamen, the village holy man, had the knowledge of how to process
them and destroy the deadly toxins and convert the hallucinogenic chemical,
ibotenic acid, into the derivative muscimol which is some ten times stronger.
So to help heal the sick the Shamen would contact the spirits by eating some
of this, go into ‘high’ euphoric state with a jolly ‘ho, ho, ho,’ and come down the
chimney. Well not quite down the chimney but through the door of the yurt – a
tent made of birch and reindeer hide - which also served as the exit for the
smoke from the fire. This drug was so strong that when it passed out in the
urine into the snow the rein deer while grazing would also take it in and they then
‘took off’. The villagers would also partake of yellow snow and get high. In fact
even when passed through several people it was still strong enough to create an
hallucinogenic effect. This is probably where the phrase ‘ getting pissed’ came
from as the expression pre-dates inebriation by alcohol by several thousand
years. So there you have it! The red suit with white trim - the red mushroom with
white spots, the ho, ho, ho – the drug induced euphoric laugh, climbing down the
chimney – entering through the smoky door and flying through the air, maybe this
is why it is called the fly agaric mushroom. Yes, Santa Claus is a fun guy (fungi)
both metaphorically and physically.
One of the other effects of the muscimol drug is macropsia, the inability to
Mistletoe
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judge size. It is interesting to note that
the Victorian mycologist Mordecai Cooke
reporting on the drinking of urine rich in
muscimol and its various effects, was
also a friend of the author Lewis
Carrol who interestingly has Alice
eating a mushroom in Alice in
Wonderland and having a great
deal of problem with her size.
Fungi are a large group of plants,
some 50,000 of them, and some are very tasty to eat, but before you go out
to the woods to pick them think on this: Some of the toxins to be found in the
poisonous varieties cause total liver and kidney failure within some thirty minutes
of ingesting them and have no known antidotes. The French are very fond of
eating wild fungi and statistics show a high proportion of them die from poisoning
each year. Also, would you ever consider eating the fungi that causes athletes
foot. Myself I prefer to play totally safe and pick mine up in the supermarket, but if
you would like to know more about fungi then the Wildlife Trust do organise fungi
forays in the Autumn.
This has nothing to do with the birth of Christ who was born around 15
September 7 BC – that is according to Dr David Hughes of Sheffield University
who bases his date on the appearance of the star that the three wise men
followed when the unusual conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation
of Pisces took place. Unfortunately the monk Dionusius Exiguus, he must
have hated his mother for calling him that, totted up the period of the Roman
Empire wrong by missing the four years of the emperor Octavian. As for
25 December, it’s very close to the Winter Solstice and the Roman feast of
Saturnalia. So everything was lumped together to avoid too many bank holidays!
Happy Christmas.
New to Stay True Wellness
he sole British member of the Lonanthaceae, a family of
semi-parasitic plants, mistletoe has over 1300 species worldwide. Our evergreen species becomes visible when its hosts loses its leaves in
winter. The mistletoe is surrounded by folklore and some of the facts can be found
in A Dictionary of Plant Lore by Roy Vickery published by Oxford University Press.
Mistlethrushes were supposed to have spread the seeds after eating the berries.
You are supposed to keep mistletoe all the year round in the house to prevent it
being struck by lightning or being visited by witches. If you succeed in planting it,
and it thrives, then your daughters will not marry. The mistletoe is gradually being
lost in the British Isles and most of your sprigs you buy at Christmas are imported
Registered, insured and completely confidential.
from France, indicating that we are losing our orchards as most commercially
harvested mistletoe comes from apple orchards. Since 1970 we have lost some
80,000 acres and replaced by arable fields full of cereals and oil seed rape. Arlesey has lost two. One where Ramerick Gardens now stands and the other to the
right of the footpath which leads from the High Street to the Mill Pits.
The Druids held that mistletoe – preferably growing on an oak – had to be cut
with a golden sickle during the summer or winter solstice. On no account was it to
be allowed to fall on the ground, which robbed it of its magical powers. Instead it
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was caught in the lap of their robes while two white bulls were sacrificed.
Saturday 8th December at Arlesey Scout Hut, Cluny Way, Arlesey.
English people have kissed beneath boughs of mistletoe since Saxon times,
• Doors open at 6pm for 6.30 start.
a man having the right to demand a kiss from any woman who passes (either
• £10 Per team entry, max 6 people per team.
inadvertently or on purpose) beneath a bough of mistletoe hung from the ceiling.
• Quiz will feature rounds for young and more mature.....
Also known by the name all-heal, the plant is credited with various healing
• Licensed bar for adults, sweet stall for kids.
powers. It is beneficial, usually in the form of a tea, in the treatment of epilepsy,
• We will also be drawing our grand Christmas raffle on the night.
heart disease, nervous ailments, snakebite toothache and St Vitus’s Dance. The
• Team tickets available from section leaders or Paulette Reid.
plant does in fact contain the drug guipsene, which can indeed be used to help
• Maximum 20 teams.
sufferers of hyper tension and nervous disorders. Mistletoe is also said to have
Not to be missed..........
the power to mend quarrels, to ward off lightening and to promote fertility. Not
Tickets for our grand Christmas raffle still available from scouting leaders
surprisingly, in view of the plant’s varied properties and magical associations,
or Paulette Reid £1 each
anyone who is reckless enough to take the whole bush or actually cuts down a
For further info contact Stuart Mcguire 07762732661 or Paulette Reid
mistletoe-bearing tree is warned to expect a particularly grisly end.
07879 635864
You have been warned!
For more information see Facebook, call 07547 189168
or email: [email protected]
Scouts Family Quiz Night
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December 2012
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to advertise telephone: 01462 834265 or go to the website: www.onthebuttonarlesey.co.uk
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