A nice tree with a gnarled spirit!
Another nice tree to worship.
Doesn’t look like a shaman to me – high on some hallucinatory drug!
The Real Meaning of Christmas
The real meaning of Christmas is locked away in pagan mythology. Most religions that usurp other religions take over the ceremonies of previous religions and modify and adopt them. Christianity did this with both Christmas and Easter.
What we now have as a Christmas celebration – the birth of Jesus with all the nativity scenes – is actually a celebration of the winter solstice.
The winter solstice was celebrated by ancient tribes all over the world. It is, in the northern hemisphere, the shortest day of the year. The days are drawing out, though, because of the way the earth cools, the coldest winter months are still all ahead. This celebration was accompanied by ritual and feasting.
We see a number of the Nordic traditions surviving.
The Christmas tree is a throw-back to the animism of old where spirits were thought to inhabit trees, streams, rivers and rocks. Tree worship was a world-wide religion; we still touch wood for luck. In Scandinavia it was prevalent in the shamanistic tradition.
Santa Claus is another throwback to Scandinavian lore. The shaman used magic potions of hallucinogenic mushrooms to fly through the sky on a sled with his reindeer to converse with the gods. The mushrooms were Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric, and had bright red caps flecked with white. Nowadays Santa Claus (Father Christmas) decked in his bright red and white costume flies through the sky magically to bring gifts to people. These used to be the gifts of insight and wisdom. Now they are usually plastic goods of dubious durability.
So mixed up with our story of Jesus we have tree worship and hallucinatory acid trips.
It’s a heady mix for a small kid to take in!
Reblogged this on 61chrissterry.
Cheers Chris. Merry Solstice!
Its funny what people will swallow and be motivated by.
They’ll swallow anything if you catch them young enough.
Like the tree- sneaked out?
Yep – washing up done! They are all nattering!
Reblogged this on Opher's World and commented:
In the middle of the consumer nightmare and Christian take-over is the real story of Christmas!
I didnot know the part about the magic mushrooms and Santa Claus. Interesting!
That’s why the reindeer fly through the sky bringing gifts!
😁
You’re welcome.
Isn’t it fascinating the world we live in!! The only new thing in this for me was the magic mushies and yet another story about the origins of Santa. Again another example of how interconnected we all are 🙂 I love the rich tapestry we weave with our stories, myths and traditions. Reasons to celebrate and enjoy instead
I love all those creation myths and stories. I think telling tales is one of our greatest attributes!
I couldn’t agree more !
Just imagine all those people sitting around a fire, with the stars overhead, telling their stories, passing them down, embellishing them, and all the kids listening in with wide-eyes and open mouths.