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Christian Rätsch

Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide Paperback – Illustrated, October 24, 2006

by Christian Rätsch (Author), Claudia Müller-Ebeling (Author)

151 ratings

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An examination of the sacred botany and the pagan origins and rituals of Christmas

• Analyzes the symbolism of the many plants associated with Christmas

• Reveals the shamanic rituals that are at the heart of the Christmas celebration

The day on which many commemorate the birth of Christ has its origins in pagan rituals that center on tree worship, agriculture, magic, and social exchange. But Christmas is no ordinary folk observance. It is an evolving feast that over the centuries has absorbed elements from cultures all over the world--practices that give plants and plant spirits pride of place. In fact, the symbolic use of plants at Christmas effectively transforms the modern-day living room into a place of shamanic ritual.

Christian Rätsch and Claudia Müller-Ebeling show how the ancient meaning of the botanical elements of Christmas provides a unique view of the religion that existed in Europe before the introduction of Christianity. The fir tree was originally revered as the sacred World Tree in northern Europe. When the church was unable to drive the tree cult out of people’s consciousness, it incorporated the fir tree by dedicating it to the Christ child. Father Christmas in his red-and-white suit, who flies through the sky in a sleigh drawn by reindeer, has his mythological roots in the shamanic reindeer-herding tribes of arctic Europe and Siberia. These northern shamans used the hallucinogenic fly agaric mushroom, which is red and white, to make their soul flights to the other world. Apples, which figure heavily in Christmas baking, are symbols of the sun god Apollo, so they find a natural place at winter solstice celebrations of the return of the sun. In fact, the authors contend that the emphasis of Christmas on green plants and the promise of the return of life in the dead of winter is just an adaptation of the pagan winter solstice celebration.

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Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Inner Traditions
Publication date

October 24, 2006
Dimensions

8 x 0.5 x 10 inches
ISBN-10

9781594770920
ISBN-13

978-1594770920

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The authors and the translators richly deserve congratulations on what is without doubt one of the finest books about Pagan Christmas written in recent times." ― Lee Prosser, Ghostvillage.com, Dec 2006

"The illustrations and photographs are excellent. The text is concise, and accurate. Pagan Christmas is a fine reading experience!" ― Lee Prosser, Ghostvillage.com, Dec 18, 2006

From the Back Cover

CHRISTMAS / PAGANISM The day on which many commemorate the birth of Christ has its origins in pagan rituals that center on tree worship, agriculture, magic, and social exchange. But Christmas is no ordinary folk observance. It is an evolving feast that over the centuries has absorbed elements from cultures all over the world--practices that give the magical properties of plants and plant spirits pride of place. In fact, the symbolic use of plants at Christmas effectively transforms the modern-day living room into a place of shamanic ritual. Christian Ratsch and Claudia Muller-Ebeling show how the ancient meaning and use of the botanical elements of Christmas provide a unique view of the religion that existed in Europe before the introduction of Christianity. The fir tree was originally revered as the sacred World Tree in northern Europe. When the Christian church was unable to drive the tree cult out of people's consciousness, it incorporated the fir tree by dedicating it to the Christ child. Father Christmas in his red-and-white suit, who flies through the sky in a sleigh drawn by reindeer, has his mythological roots in the shamanic reindeer-herding tribes of arctic Europe and Siberia. These northern shamans used the hallucinogenic fly agaric mushroom, which is red and white, to make their soul flights to the other world. Apples, which figure heavily in Christmas baking, are symbols of the sun god Apollo, so they find a natural place at winter solstice celebrations of the return of the sun. Indeed, the emphasis at Christmas on green plants and the promise of the return of life in the dead of winter is by its very nature another form of the pagan winter solstice celebration still practiced today.CHRISTIAN RATSCH, Ph.D., is a world-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specializes in the shamanic uses of plants. A former president of the German Society for Ethnomedicine, he is the author of The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants and Marijuana Medicine and coauthor of Plants of the Gods. CLAUDIA MULLER-EBELING, Ph.D., is an art historian and anthropologist and coauthor, with Christian Ratsch, of Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas and Witchcraft Medicine. Both authors live in Hamburg, Germany.

About the Author

Christian Rätsch, Ph.D. (1957 – 2022), was a world-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specialized in the shamanic uses of plants. He is the author of The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants and Marijuana Medicine, and coauthor of Plants of the Gods, Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, and Witchcraft Medicine. He lived in Hamburg, Germany, and lectured around the world. Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Ph.D., is an art historian and anthropologist and coauthor, with Christian Rätsch, of Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas and Witchcraft Medicine. She lives in Hamburg, Germany.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From the Shamanic World Tree to the Christmas Tree

Father Christmas--An Anthropomorphic Fly Agaric Mushroom?

Perceptive people have associated St. Nicholas with the fly agaric mushroom that, in former times, was eaten during the winter solstice in northern Europe--and which made it possible to fly through other worlds.
--NAUWALD 2002, 37F

Many aspects of modern Christmas rituals have their origin in pagan customs. At close inspection, even the red-and-white dressed Father Christmas can be seen as another version of Wotan or as a secret shaman. But most astonishingly, he might even be seen as an anthropomorphic fly agaric mushroom! A scandalous claim? Perhaps. But first, let us look more closely at his connection with the shamanic fly agaric mushroom.

The Fly Agaric Mushroom (Amanita muscaria)

The characteristic red mushroom with its white dots is the Nordic shamanic drug par excellence. Most shamans of the Northern Hemisphere ate it ritually. Its shamanic use can be traced to the Lapps, the Siberian nomadic peoples (Samojeden, Ostjaken, Tungusen, and Jakuten), and the North American Indians.

Old Nordic Shamanism was associated closely with Odin (Wotan) and resembled the shamanism of the Lapps and the ancient Finnish peoples. In many mythologies, storm and thunderstorm gods are associated with the fly agaric mushroom, perhaps because the thunder and lightning of the outer world can be triggered by the agaric mushroom flight through the inner world.

The Germanic thunder and fertility god, Donar or Thor, drives his goat cart through the air. He causes thunder and lightning when he throws his hammer in the clouds. Then thunderstones (meteorites) begin falling and hitting the earth. Where they inseminate the ground, mushrooms grow, especially fly agarics.

Mythology recorded in modern times contains some stories in which Wotan (Wodan or Odin), the shamanic god of ecstasy and knowledge, was associated with the fly agaric mushroom. According to legend, the fly agaric mushroom grows where Wotan rides on his horse through the clouds with his followers, the members of the wild hunt, in the dark nights around the time of the winter solstice. Wherever the froth of Wotan’s horse fell to the ground, the ground would become “pregnant” and nine months later would sprout fly agaric mushrooms, at the time of the autumn equinox. The story sometimes says that the fly agaric mushrooms grow from a mixture of the blood (red) and froth (white) of Wotan’s white horse. The wild hunt is drawn to the mushroom, calmed and put in a good mood with incense. In the smoke columns of the incense, and wherever it finds nourishment, the wild hunt army becomes guardian of house and farm.

The ethnic cultures that live in the north of Kamchatka (a peninsula in the far northeast of Siberia), especially the Tschuktschen and Korjaken, live as reindeer nomads and wander with their flocks in the vast plains of that country. They and other north Siberian shamans ritually ingest the fly agaric mushroom, especially when they want to communicate with the souls of their ancestors or make contact with the spirits for divination and to heal the sick.

Reindeer, Sleighs, and Shamans

The feeling of flying that occurs after consumption [of fly agaric mushrooms] is an effect that could be the origin of the Scandinavian and English version of Father Christmas, who flies through the air on his reindeer sleigh.
--BREMNESS 1994, 286

The idea of a great variety of reindeer sleighs flying through the air at Christmastime seems to be pervasive. A laughing, red-and-white Father Christmas sits in his sleigh with his sack, his rod, and the presents. Every year this ancient shaman comes down to Earth in his reindeer sleigh and lands on numerous roofs--the very image of a great, twinkling, lit-up, Christmas decoration.

Father Christmas is a pagan shaman from the grey mist of a distant European past. This might seem strange to a lot of people in our day; they may even think that this is an extremely far-fetched claim. Can you prove something like that?
--Appleton 2002, 53

Siberian mythology describes a “heavenly hunt” in a manner similar to the Germanic wild hunt. The Siberian shamans ride on reindeer sleighs through the air, up to the clouds. The world tree is their goal; this is where the magic reindeer are. The Siberian Tschutschuken say that the moon is a man on a sleigh that is pulled by two reindeer to Earth and can fly back up to heaven--just like our Father Christmas (Guter 1978, 57ff). The association of reindeer and shamanism is ancient. In the caves of the Ardèche are wall paintings of reindeer that are around thirty thousand years old. As early as the Old Stone Age, reindeer were sunk in moors as sacrificial offerings--for example, in the Hamburg steppe of Meiendorf and Stellmoor and in Magdalénien (Pohlhausen 1953). This is the ritual context of cultic poles or stakes crowned with anthropomorphic mushrooms with dwarf caps. Sometimes, even reindeer skulls were placed on top of such sacrificial stakes. These often-neglected details may be early associations of the reindeer with the godly mushrooms, just as the mushroom-topped ritual poles may be early ancestors of the Christmas tree. So the red-and-white Father Christmas, riding on his reindeer sleigh through the air, clearly was nothing other than an anthropomorphic fly agaric mushroom or a fly agaric mushroom shaman.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1594770921
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Inner Traditions
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 24, 2006
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781594770920
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594770920
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.5 x 10 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #1,019,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,221 in Folklore & Mythology Studies
- #4,046 in History of Christianity (Books)
- #4,878 in Christian Church History (Books)
Customer Reviews:
151 ratings

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Customers find the book thoroughly researched and informative, with one review noting it explains ancient traditions in detail. Moreover, they appreciate its readability and find it fun to read, while also praising its holiday content and mystical elements. Additionally, the book features pictures and botanical influences on Pagan Christmas, with one customer highlighting its focus on psychoactive plants. However, the content receives mixed reactions from customers.

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Information quality Readability Fun to read Holiday content Mystical content Pictures Plant content Content

17 customers mention "Information quality"16 positive1 negative

Customers find the book informative and well-researched, with detailed content and thorough coverage of ancient traditions, though one customer notes it focuses more on plants than rituals.

"...Aparently quite a lot! this book is very well written and researched, quite facinating to anyone interested in the subject of where our many..." Read more

"...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...." Read more

"...The research is very thorough and objective...." Read more

"...Very informative, thorough, and clear in its language, I highly recommend this book for someone who would like in-depth knowledge of the plants of..." Read more

16 customers mention "Readability"16 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and interesting, with one noting it is a must-read for Wicca and Pagans.

"...This offers new information as well. Interesting read." Read more

"Great book" Read more

"This is a lovely, interesting book, concentrating on the botanical influences on Pagan Christmas- that is, the customs we celebrate today that in..." Read more

"We really enjoy this book and find it very interesting and fun, this was a Christmas gift and She really likes it too!" Read more

4 customers mention "Fun to read"3 positive1 negative

Customers find the book fun to read.

"seems to be a self published book, kinda fun...could be better" Read more

"We really enjoy this book and find it very interesting and fun, this was a Christmas gift and She really likes it too!" Read more

"this is too funny. I don't remember ordering this but that's ok..." Read more

"...I really enjoyed it and it was fun finding the meaning behind things like holly and ivy, the Christmas tree, mistletoe, etc." Read more

4 customers mention "Holiday content"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the holiday content of the book, with one mentioning how it relates to the holiday season, while another notes its focus on the celebration of Pagan Christmas and the customs surrounding this joyous holy day.

"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..." Read more

"...knowledge of the plants of Christmas, as well as the customs surrounding this joyous holy day." Read more

"...But make no mistake, this book is about plants and how they relate to the holiday season...." Read more

"This book concerned the celebration of pagan christmas...." Read more

4 customers mention "Mystical content"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the mystical content of the book, with one customer noting how it opens their senses to hidden aspects, while another mentions enjoying the real meanings behind the traditions.

"I wanted to like this book. I love the premise and there are some interesting parts, but I suspect it lost a lot in the translation from German...." Read more

"What to say about this book ?? Read Read Read and enjoy the Real meanings behind and connected that Holiday. Enjoy ed a hundred times over !!!!!" Read more

"...Having said that, this book opened my senses to a hidden and sometimes frightening world of pagan deities, demons, and fairies; the complex..." Read more

"Mystical and Academic Book..." Read more

4 customers mention "Pictures"4 positive0 negative

Customers like the pictures in the book, with one mentioning the inclusion of tree images.

"...'s going to say," and was immediately mesmerized with the layout, the pictures, the information, everything!..." Read more

"...Pictures are cool too. IF PURCHASING I would recommend buying a solid copy...." Read more

"...and includes lovely photographs...." Read more

"...There are a few pictures of trees, but they mostly concern decorating witih polka-dotted mushrooms and trolls instead of traditional balls,..." Read more

4 customers mention "Plant content"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's focus on plants and flowers, with one customer noting its extensive coverage of psychoactive plants and another highlighting its emphasis on botanical influences on Pagan Christmas.

"This is a lovely, interesting book, concentrating on the botanical influences on Pagan Christmas- that is, the customs we celebrate today that in..." Read more

"...This work contains much on psychoactive plants, but also on other edible, decorative and generally interesting plants. Profusely illustrated...." Read more

"...But make no mistake, this book is about plants and how they relate to the holiday season...." Read more

"OK Book Mostly About Plants and Flowers..." Read more

3 customers mention "Content"1 positive2 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's content, with one finding it exhaustive while another notes that the table of contents is misleading.

"This book is exhaustive and you can easily get lost in the details...." Read more

"...mesmerized with the layout, the pictures, the information, everything! And the little known esoterica brought out here makes it really worth reading...." Read more

"...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..." Read more

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J. D. Greene
A book of scholarship with fabulous interest!
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2006
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

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.

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Kyra_Athena
Mystical and Academic Book
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2007
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
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.

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89 people found this helpful

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David Holubetz
The plants of Christmas
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2009
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
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.

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36 people found this helpful

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Glenda Campbell
OK Book Mostly About Plants and Flowers
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I got this book, I guess, hoping to see how the Pagan crowd decorated their tree. Silly me! A lot of this book covers the different plants and flowers that are more or less identified as having Pagan "roots", so to speak. There are a few pictures of trees, but they mostly concern decorating witih polka-dotted mushrooms and trolls instead of traditional balls, decorations, and tinsel. It is a nice book to flip through, but I probably won't spend a lot of time using it as reference, as I have my old-fashioned decorations and holiday books. Buy it if you can get it cheap, otherwise check it out at your local library if they carry it.

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Nina Malischev
Lovely book with lots of interesting information.
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This is a lovely, interesting book, concentrating on the botanical influences on Pagan Christmas- that is, the customs we celebrate today that in fact have roots in pagan celebrations. It presents quite a lot of information about a wide variety of plants, mushrooms, etc., and includes lovely photographs. I really enjoyed it and it was fun finding the meaning behind things like holly and ivy, the Christmas tree, mistletoe, etc.

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3 people found this helpful

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Coffee Mom
Expert information and thorough
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I have studied this subject for many years, yet this book showed me how much I did not know. Very informative, thorough, and clear in its language, I highly recommend this book for someone who would like in-depth knowledge of the plants of Christmas, as well as the customs surrounding this joyous holy day.

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7 people found this helpful

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Henry Price (Hard Fried History)
Good but very technical
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2020
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Good if you already know a lot about botany and such, but if you are completely ignorant on the subject (like me) it can be rather stale and some of the conclusions (ie that colors of red and white being a subliminal and ancient harkening to psychedelic mushrooms) can seem rather like a stretch. That being said using the history of the herbs and plants and whatnot in order to prove the broader point that Christmas is rather an amalgamation of ancient holidays is an interesting angle and it is well argued. Pictures are cool too. IF PURCHASING I would recommend buying a solid copy. I bought the Kindle version but I think the hard-copy is probably better laid-out, pictures didn't always sync up on the kindle. Read for an episode of my podcast, Hard Fried History.

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4 people found this helpful

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TandyJoAndy
very thorough and interesting
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2010
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
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.

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13 people found this helpful

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Isara
Excellent ouvrage de "folklore botanique"
Reviewed in France on December 27, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Ce livre traite de l'ethnobotanique de Noël. C'est à dire: le folklore autour de l'usage de plantes en période de Noël. On y parle bien sûr du sapin, du gui, des plantes d'hiver telles que les roses de Noël, de l'amanite tue-mouches (je n'avais jamais remarqué mais effectivement ce champignon est présent dans beaucoup de décors de Noël) etc. et des légendes/propriétés/symboles qui leur sont associés. On y parle aussi du Père Noël ou d'autres personnages et des plantes auxquelles ils sont liés. Il y a un chapitre fascinant sur le Père Noël envisagé comme shaman habillé aux couleurs de l'amanite, consommée autrefois au solstice d'hiver par certains shamans d'Europe du nord comme psychotrope. Bien évidemment contrairement à ce qu'on lit parfois sur internet le Père Noël n'est pas "une invention de Coca Cola".

Le livre a été écrit par deux anthropologues, l'un spécialisé dans l'utilisation shamanique des plantes, l'autre également historienne d'art. Le contenu est sérieux et bien documenté et offre tellement d'infos que c'est (pour moi en tout cas) impossible d'en retenir ne serait ce que la moitié avec une seule lecture. De plus, le livre contient de nombreuses et belles images (2-3 par double page), photos ou illustrations, toujours pertinentes et qui aèrent la lecture. La présentation du texte est également très réussie: pas de lourd bloc d'infos mais des paragraphes et sous chapitres relativement courts, des citations, parfois des encarts... un aspect ouvert et fluide qui fait passer le concentré d'infos.

Je considère que c'est un must have pour qui s'intéresse au folklore de Noël, mais il faut savoir c'est un ouvrage detaillé et d'approche scientifique sur le folklore botanique, pas un ouvrage qui se contente de raconter des légendes.

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Natalia McGinness
The second book about Christmas lore I own but definitely ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
The second book about Christmas lore I own but definitely not the last. I want to know what we really celebrating but not what we are told. Definite buy for any seeker of true knowledge.

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Sue Van Slooten
It's good to have an anthropological background
Reviewed in Canada on April 9, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
It's good to have an anthropological background, but certainly not necessary. A fascinating view of ancient rituals and the plants they used, and we still use today. We've lost some of the pharmacopeia of them, but still value them as decorative, holiday plants. Scholarly dive into our earlier ancestors and their practices too. Very interesting read.

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InChristusAllein
Christmas Coffee-Table Book!
Reviewed in Canada on January 7, 2014
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This book was an amazing read, and touched on a lot of curious Christmas traditions that most people take for granted. The array of plants discussed will inspire you to seek further reference works about the hidden world of the Christmas holiday we've grown oh-so-familiar with, and take you beyond mere commercialism.

In addition, I recommend Irvin and Rutajit's book, "Astrotheology & Shamanism," and their YouTube-based video, "The Pharmacratic Inquisition." The information you uncover will blow your mind and change your experience of Christmas for life.

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kathleen Hawkins
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Fab book with lots of information I didnt know.Its given me ideas for next Xmas

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