Who Is Santa Claus?

A friend recently texted me with great urgency to let me know the folly in our making light of Santa Claus for all these adult years. In fact, she professed, Santa is a deity who we had best take seriously.

She was instructed by a friend whose ancestry hailed from "those Northern regions" that in the ancient times, Santa was revered. He was a sort of a trickster, she explained, a beacon of giving and wonderment who would "fuck up your barn" if you didn't leave him cherished offerings such as oats and beer.

Santa Claus was a trickster? Why hadn't anyone told me sooner?

I thought back to the many moments of spoilt-child-esque disappointment when, on Christmas day, I didn't get the gift I had been expecting. And those times as a more nobly conditioned adult when I have met again with that sunken feeling, so unexpectedly, when others' reactions to my gifts to them were not quite so jubilant as I had hoped when making my investment.

And then there was my favorite christmas ever, the time I stayed back with my stepfather to provide him care while he recovered from surgery and the rest of the family had to go to a wedding. The emptiness, silence, and freedom made space to notice the subtle charm of this oft maligned holiday.

It wouldn't be unusual, even on a Hallmark Christmas special, for Santa Claus to bear strongly the reminder that to stay in the flow of "what is"as opposed to what one "wishes to be" is an integral element to experiencing gratitude. (The deeper esoteric suggestion perhaps being that authenticity in gratitude is a crucial step to becoming a naturally lucky individual.)

So, Santa as a trickster? I could see it after all. The guy sure does like to laugh.... Ho, ho, ho.

In astrology, Mercury is our trickster. Fast moving and androgynous, Mercury is far from the classic cultural depiction of Santa Claus. No, Santa Claus is clearly a Jupiterian- fat, happy, and full of gifts.

But this is not the only time I've seen archetypes of luck and those of tricks to overlap. Ellegua of the Santeria tradition, for example, is called upon for the opening of the roads- To bring in new fortune and yet is also warned to be especially prone to mischief in his process of bringing about one's desires. Care is required when petitioning Ellegua.

Tricksters are serious, mysterious business. And yet they love to party.

I decided a quick google search was in order to achieve a more fact-based understanding of the trickster roots of Santa Claus. "Trickster" the term turned up disappointing results, but I followed a wormhole of correlations between Mr Claus and ancient tricky nature spirits Dionysus and Pan. And here is where the story takes a much deeper turn.

Certain circles it seems have long been aware that Christmas and its long list of precious traditions, from the flying reindeer to the symbolism of the virgin birth, the tree, and north star emanate from ancient Siberian shamans, who took amanita muscara (or psychedelic mushrooms) at this time of year and engaged in deep feats of journey.

Santa Claus himself was allegedly a shaman, and the people would drink his psychedelic-infused urine where the toxins were less (this part of the tradition did not hold) and imagined their pet reindeer to be flying. The trunk of the tree represented the upper, middle, and lower worlds of the shamanic journey and the virgin birth was a symbol of the way the mushroom grows - with only a seed, inseminated solely from the morning dew. Santa came round to the villagers, and imparted great gifts of wisdom- and the people basked in the gratitude of their enlightenment.

(To read a more thorough and much engaging explanation of this history, I've included the URL below. )

Of course I took it upon myself to relay the "truth about Christmas" to my family members at this season's parties and, while I didn't think it possible, I discovered here in the midst of yuletide gossip another unexpected twist to the story of Christmas past.

A family member imparted to me that in the old days of the United States, Christmas was celebrated more like we do Halloween today. People would tell ghost stories and young men would wander door to door at night, expecting gifts. At one point, , this vintage 'trick or treat' actually became a problem, because the young peasant men would terrorize the people at their homes. Thus the state made a movement to turn Christmas into the innocent greeting card holiday we know today. She noted the correlation of this story's themes with the supposed trickster element of Santa Claus.

Another quick google search confirmed an old practice called "wassailing"- the origins of carrolling no doubt. But this door to door hustle was not a simple gesture of overly enthusiastic joy (that seemed a little too good to be true, didn't it?) but a demand from the have-nots to the haves to share their very best wines and desserts. Their very finest. And if the wealthy homeowners didn't not comply... well, they better watch out. It could be problematic for their reputation and/or their property.

Now the visions dancing in my head were of Trump Tower! Trickster meets tricksters, all in the Christmas spirit! Forget protests, forget resistance, "give us your figgy pudding"! And perhaps you should try some of our urine in exchange.

Merry christmas to all!

And happy New Year.

http://moodyview.com/come-wassailing-roots-christmas-tradition/

http://www.dosenation.com/listing.php?id=5514