Holiday Bonus: The Psychedelic History of Santa

All Episodes

December 21, 2020 • 88 mins

This bonus/end of the year holiday episode is a looser and more fun episode all about the psychedelic mushroom history of Santa Claus. According to this theory, our modern Santa is based on ancient shamans in the Scandinavian and Siberian regions who would pass out hallucinogenic mushrooms on the winter solstice.

While it is just a theory, it does explain many of the weird traditions around Christmas—the red and white outfit, putting presents under a conifer tree, entering through the chimney, etc. It especially explains why humans might have believed that the reindeer pulling these old bearded shamans around the forest were flying. Maybe the reindeer themselves even thought that they were flying since they love to eat the Amanita muscaria mushroom.

Whatever the real history, this version is fun to think about and served as our excuse to have a few beers and make a fun bonus episode. And we invited our good friend and homebrewing expert Johnny back on—he was on previously to talk about the craft of craft beer—since he has an impressive knowledge of weird history on topics like this.

And since he's a beer guy, we also talked about the role beer played in the old pagan solstice celebrations (aka yule feasts) in Scandinavia and other parts of Russia.

Enjoy, and thanks for being a part of Exploring Kodawari in 2020. We'll be back with new episodes in 2021!

Support Us:

You can always support us by leaving a rating or review in your podcasting app. You can also share our episodes with friends on social media.

But it does take a lot of time to put together a podcast, maintain a website, and write new content every week. So if you would like to support us in a more substantial way, consider making a donation through the PayPal buttons on our website:

https://exploringkodawari.blog/donation/

It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.

Crime Junkie

Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

All Episodes