Customer Reviews

Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kudos to the author! At last a book about pagan winter celebrations and the origins of Christmas that a thinking pagan can sink his or her teeth into! The author is an anthropologist and an ethnopharmacologist. This book goes far beyond the fluffy books on Yule that are on the market and shows you amazing things! Of course you really need to read the whole thing. A cursory glance will cause you to think it's all about magic, mushrooms, and sex, but, hey -- it's pagan isn't it? I picked it up with the ho-hum attitude of "I probably know everything it's going to say," and was immediately mesmerized with the layout, the pictures, the information, everything! And the little known esoterica brought out here makes it really worth reading. Worth reading on many, many levels.

First, this book is written by two German anthropologists and was only recently translated into English. The research is very thorough and objective. I'm sure someone would argue with this assertation, but I don't think I'd want dispute anthropologists who study ethnobotany and art history as well. They are more qualified than I am.

Second, the book is not really a how-to book as far as rituals and such. This is more about the traditions and symbolism which we believe to be Christian and part of Christmas observance. Imagine telling someone that Santa Claus is really the personification of a hallucinogenic mushroom, the fly agaric, often used in shamanic religious practices. St. Nicholas' sack has pagan symbolism. The Christmas tree was the Christian church's response to the pagans who worshipped the living tree, so cutting down and killing the tree would be the ultimate insult. Plants and recipes involving particular spices are also mentioned in here. The living evergreen wreath is exceptionally symbolic as the circle of life and the wheel of the year. Buying gifts and decorating like mad is a new phenomenon during the Christmas season as is evident in poems, stories, and sayings from as late as the early 1900s.

I believe this book would be educational and would benefit almost any reader. Pagans and Christians should all read this book. Some extremists wouldn't like it as it is in direct conflict with their beliefs.

I say buy the book or borrow it from a library for its educational value. If it had been available in English, I would have bought it sooner. I've been looking for a book like this for years.

A quick note to clarify that this book is primarily concerned with the PLANTS related to early pagan and later secular, pagan and religious observations of the Solstice and Christmas season. Ratsch is an ethnobotanist and psychopharmacologist, and as such focuses on the importance of plants in the rituals and customs. Very interesting stuff. I saw him speak many years ago at the Telluride Mushroom Festival, and I can tell you that he was way out there. He made the other guys seem tame by comparison, especially in his promotion of psychoactive plants as a means to reconnect with the spirit of the world. This work contains much on psychoactive plants, but also on other edible, decorative and generally interesting plants. Profusely illustrated. I highly recommend this book.

Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide. By Dr. Christian Rätsch & Dr. Claudia Muller-Ebeling, 2003/2006.

This is by far the best book on the Christmas traditions that I've yet read. Rätsch, the famed ethnopharmacologist, has written more than 40 books in German, and I hope to see all of them one day translated to English, because I would buy every one. I have all of the English translations of their books, and they are two of my favorite authors.

Rätsch and Muller approach Christmas from a different angle than the other books on this subject - through plants. Plant drugs, plant incense, plant foods, plant rituals, etc.

They show a rich history throughout the world of the Christmas traditions and the various plants used in each region, including additional evidence regarding the links between the tale of Santa Claus and the Amanita muscaria mushroom. In their thorough presentation, they completely shatter the recent attacks on this idea by Andy Letcher in his book Shroom (pg. 137-9).

There are also some historical finds in this book that are invaluable to research and academia as a whole - especially that of Epiphanius and the 10th century manuscript that proves the correlations between the worship of Jesus and Horus.

From pg. 150-1.
"In 375 CE, Epiphanius, Biship of Constantia, described the pagan winter solstice feasts and mystery cults:

This feast was celebrated by the Greeks (I mean the pagans) on December 25--the day called Saturnalia by the Romans, Kronia in Egypt, and Kykellia by the Alexandrians. On December 25, then, a cut happens that is also a turn; and it begins to grow. This is the day when the light be3comes more (Vossen 1985, 72).

In Egypt, Kykellia is called "the rite of Isis." Like the smudging nights, this is a twelve-day feast. It begins with a torch procession in honor of the birth of Horus, the son of Isis: "The birth of the new sun is the intended meaning, and that was connected with the announcement of the sowing [of wheat] in the earth, freshly fertilized (with dung) and flooded by the Nile" (Vossen 1985, 72f). The sowing was done on December 27, during the feast celebrating the ascension of Horus to the throne. [...]"

This reference to Epiphanius has actually been lost to most of academia since its discovery in 1859. In fact, Rätsch's citation to Vossen goes back 4 centuries earlier than the more widely known versions of Epiphanius. As George Robert Stow Mead in 1906 related:

"And here it will be of interest to turn to a curious statement of Epiphanius; it is missing in all editions of this Father prior to that of Dindorf (Leipzig, 1859), which was based on the very early (tenth century) Codex Marcianus 125, all previous editions being printed from a severely censured and bowdlerized fourteenth century MS"

Why am I mentioning this? Because it shows the overall high level of scholarship in Rätsch's and Muller's work. Their research is impeccable.

As a follow up to this book, I also recommend reading Dr. Patrick Harding's book, Christmas Unwrapped. His book goes into more detail of some of the important calendar aspects that are also important to understand. He also covers more of the angles on the Amanita mushroom / shaman relationship.

My only complaint with Pagan Christmas is that it would have been nice to have the chemical composition of each plant included someplace, like in the margin, so that we can also see if there is any chemical foundation to many of these plant's myths and tales.

Buy this book, buy all of their books. 5 Stars!

I am a Christian and purchased this book as a means to understand the depth as to which our modern day Christmas celebrations include the pagan persuation. Aparently quite a lot! this book is very well written and researched, quite facinating to anyone interested in the subject of where our many Christmas tradition come from. I truely learned a lot, as this book is a regular treasure trove of information.

An incredible book full of revelations. After getting my first 'Ratsch-book' I have been seeking out publications which he authored or co-authored. I have not been disappointed!

The authors state in the Preface to this 2003 book, "This book is about the ethnobotany of Christmas---a study of Christmas plants and their symbolic uses and meanings throughout the centuries... what is behind our treasured Christmas traditions and customs? Why do green fir branches, flowers that bloom in the middle of the winter, Christmas spices, and incense still play such a central role in Christmas celebrations around the world? What are the symbolic meanings behind the use of these plants...?" (Pg. ix) "In this book we will explore the symbolic meanings behind Christmas and the triumphant spread of Christmas ethnobotany... throughout the world." (Pg. 2)

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Even Friedrich Nietzsche liked the feast: 'You can't believe how much I am looking forward to Christmas, wonderful Christmas!' the philosopher wrote to his mother, Franziska, and his sister, Elisabeth, on December 5, 1861. 'Christmas makes everything good!'" (Pg. x)(NOTE: Nietzsche was 17 when he wrote this.)
"...the pagan origin of the May tree and maypole tree and even of the Christmas tree is not a well-known fact... The church retained these old customs, and gave them a new meaning as a symbol for Christ: the true tree of life and light of the world." (Pg. 20)
"Augustine ... declared, 'Do not kill the heathens---just convert them; do not cut their holy trees---consecrate them to Jesus Christ.'" (Pg. 25)
"The familiar tradition that allows a boy to kiss any girl standing beneath the mistletoe further demonstrates the long-standing association of mistletoe with fertility." (Pg. 92)
"Who is not familiar with the image of Mary holding the baby Jesus? ... This depiction of mother and child is not merely a sentimental evocation of motherhood, nor did it originate with the birth of Christ. It actually began with Egyptian pictures of Isis and the Horus child..." (Pg. 151)
"The Church father Tertullian ... believed that the three wise men from the east were astrologers... From the severe perspective of the Church, this carried a touch of heathenism and explains the restraint of the Church with regard to worshipping the three magi." (Pg. 182)

What a wonderful way to teach the reasons why, than to read and repeat what's in this book. It has been a real learning experience.

This book is about plants. There are no rituals, just a description of each plant that may be used. If your looking for actual recipes; there are none in this book, but they give you a list of plants (spices) that are used during Christmas time. There are a few smudging recipes so you can make your own. But make no mistake, this book is about plants and how they relate to the holiday season. If you have ever had an overwhelming desire to learn about every Christmas Tree type known to man; then this book is for you. If you are looking for actual rituals and recipes for cooking, then don't get this book because it doesn't have it. The table of contents is misleading. I looked before I bought and the table of contents topics do not match what is in the book (deliberate?, maybe). It is well researched and I can tell a lot of effort went into it, however, this is not the kind of book I was looking for. If you adore learning about plants then enjoy, this book is for you.

The book I purchased on "Pagan Christmas" shed a great deal of light on many of the classic traditions. By the way, it also documented why there is conflicting feeling about the holiday and its traditions. I would recommend reading it, but, if you are preconceived to certain beliefs about the traditions that Christianity has aligned on the holiday this will be a book that you will scoff at.

Again, this book is a really good one. It confirms many pieces of information I have found through other research channels. I have no hesitation about recommending it. Amazon,thanks for your service as an e-store.