What age did you stop believing in Santa?

[Richmondbread]

I was 9 years old and I found a guitar I had wanted for Christmas hidden in the basement. I knew my parents had bought it. I was sad and depressed, but soon later I learned the true story about St. Nicholas and that Santa Claus was based on a real person that did live for many years and gave presents to children. I think it's better to teach our children who the real St. Nicholas was so they can know that Santa and the spirit of giving is in our hearts at Christmas time.

[bvnny]

I don't know

[Celestia]

7

"Santa" had gotten me a keyboard that year, and a few days later I stumbled upon its box in the garage xD

[Richmondbread]

7

"Santa" had gotten me a keyboard that year, and a few days later I stumbled upon its box in the garage xD

Santa got me synthesizer also when I was 7. Good times.

[Anglo-Celtic]

I was in kindergarten. I almost had a change of heart when my sister told me than an airplane was Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer one Christmas Eve night.

[Anglo-Celtic]

7

"Santa" had gotten me a keyboard that year, and a few days later I stumbled upon its box in the garage xD

I found all of my Christmas presents under the bed one year. My mom somehow knew, and I was convinced that she was psychic.

[Teutone]

I once had a cupbard falling on me cause I knew my mom put my christmas gift on top of it so I climbed it.

All I know is that I very early knew my parents or later my mom bought them to me.

[Celestia]

I found all of my Christmas presents under the bed one year. My mom somehow knew, and I was convinced that she was psychic.

I remember arguing with one of my classmates that Santa was real because my parents couldn't possibly afford all of my gifts xD

[Anglo-Celtic]

I remember arguing with one of my classmates that Santa was real because my parents couldn't possibly afford all of my gifts xD

Did you ever have second thoughts when the milk and cookies, for Santa Claus, were gone? I almost did because my parents were as stealthy as ninja tooth fairies.

[Celestia]

Did you ever have second thoughts when the milk and cookies, for Santa Claus, were gone? I almost did because my parents were as stealthy as ninja tooth fairies.

Come to think of it, yes.

Santa’s cookies were always gone, but the Easter Bunny never ate his carrots. Needless to say my dad has a sweet tooth.

My parents always went above and beyond for us during the holidays. I treasured it so much as a kid, I will try to do the same with my babies. I try and spoil my parents now too.

[Ellethwyn]

I was 4. My older brother told me. I wasn't surprised. I didn't tell the Santa lie to my kids.

[catgeorge]

I can't stop believing in him because I have four kids.
I keep telling them Santa is not real but want none of that - they want to sing Christmas songs and get their presents everything else is secondary.

Personally - I will never stop believing in Saint Nicholas.

[Richmondbread]

I was 4. My older brother told me. I wasn't surprised. I didn't tell the Santa lie to my kids.

But Santa is based on truth, so we should tell them about St. Nicholas.

[Blondie]

I still belive in Santa, because he is exist. Santa is gay and live in Norway:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDLumk_rQQw

[Ellethwyn]

But Santa is based on truth, so we should tell them about St. Nicholas.

Yeah, I have told them about St. Nicholas... but not about the mythical Santa that comes down your chimney in the middle of the night. lol

[Anglo-Celtic]

Come to think of it, yes.

Santa’s cookies were always gone, but the Easter Bunny never ate his carrots. Needless to say my dad has a sweet tooth.

My parents always went above and beyond for us during the holidays. I treasured it so much as a kid, I will try to do the same with my babies. I try and spoil my parents now too.

Just make sure to test them for COVID, make them wear masks, show their vaccination cards, and social distance. This comes from the new Dr. Seuss Jr. book, "How The Quack Stole Christmas".

[Ylla]

I had found the letter I had written and "posted" to santa at home. I was kinda heartbroken. But my parents had got me the gifts and it was such a sweet memory.
My son met santa at preschool last week and was completely disinterested 😂

[NSXD60]

When I started school.

[Faklon]

We didn't have a chimney so I never expected him.

+My grandfather was still young enough to fight modernity and its gimmicks, keeping it raw Orthodox with money.
+My father was an awkward mix of a modernist boomer and a realist, so it neither impressed him.

[Ayetooey]

Santa doesn’t exist??

[Daco Celtic]

28

[Arūnas]

never, in my part of Poland there was never ever Santa Claus (Święty Mikołaj), we have GWIAZDOR !!!
https://www.wiatrak.nl/sites/default/files/2019-02/Swiety-Mikolaj-czy-Gwiazdor-2.jpg
img from: https://www.wiatrak.nl/10832/swiety-mikolaj-czy-gwiazdor-czyli-polskie-tradycje-przesiedlencow

[gixajo]

I never believed in Santa, here the gifts at Christmas were brought by the Three Wise Men.

https://i.imgur.com/aZqNrMM.jpg

And we do not put a Christmas tree, but rather the "Belén" or "Nacimiento".

https://i.imgur.com/EgWDCQV.jpg

More elaborate than this one I posted...

And the gifts are on January 6 , not on Christmas Day.

[Jana]

I never believed in Santa. It was never tought to children here. Seems like a modern non Christian "tradition"

In Croatia children were traditionally taught about baby Jesus, not Santa.

[PlattitüdenPaule]

Around the time I "stopped" believing in Santa, I started to believe in Odin. Then I found out theyre basically the same person, which means I never stopped believing in him in the first place.

[Jana]

I never believed in Santa, here the gifts at Christmas were brought by the Three Wise Men.

https://i.imgur.com/aZqNrMM.jpg

And we do not put a Christmas tree, but rather the "Belén" or "Nacimiento".

https://i.imgur.com/EgWDCQV.jpg

More elaborate than this one I posted...

And the gifts are on January 6 , not on Christmas Day.

In Croatia we have both christmas tree and small stable under it with figures of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the three Kings plus some animals yeah :)

Interesting how it is in Spain, had no idea.

[frankhammer]

Similar story to others here. At a very young age, I found presents wrapped and stored in cupboards. It didn't take much to put two and two together. It didn't matter, either. Toys were toys.

[michal3141]

I never believed in Santa.

[gixajo]

In Croatia we have both christmas tree and small stable under it with figures of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the three Kings plus some animals yeah :)

Interesting how it is in Spain, had no idea.

Papá Noel/Santa Claus/San Nicolás, the Christmas tree and all that, has been added modernly to Spanish Christmas traditions, and today everything coexists together in most homes, and children receive gifts on both December 25 and January 6.

Regional "traditions" rescued from oblivion, reinvented or directly invented, began to proliferate from the end of the 70s (Olentzero in Basque Country, Caga Tió in Catalonia etc...).

[rothaer]

Maybe with 6. Ultimately in school it will have been "leaked" that there is no.

Btw. we say nothing like Santa Claus, but "Weihnachtsmann". (Btw. 2: In Sweden "julgubben").

But the Weihnachtsmann came every christmas with the gifts, interrogated and spoke very serious with us children and mostly I even got a little bit hit by him (with a birch branch, I guess) for not having been obeying my parents while the past year. So regularly I was most happy, when the Weihnachtsmann had left.

[rothaer]

After there is no mentioning in the bible that Jesus is born at the 24th of December or something like that, this date seems to have been motivated by the Germanic holy feast of "Wintersonnenwende" or "Jul" that is at that date for achieving instant common sense. But as it is the same date all over the world (basically), also in the Romance culture circle, I wonder why.

Was there also a respective pagan holy day for Romans?

[coolfrenchguy]

But Santa is based on truth, so we should tell them about St. Nicholas.

indeed the origin of : Père Noël (<small>French pronunciation: ​</small>[pɛʁ nɔ.ɛl] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/French)), "Father Christmas", sometimes called 'Papa Noël' ("Daddy Christmas") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A8re_No%C3%ABl ,is not of christian origin at all ,it's come from an collective hallucination by the samis in the great north,they seen him in sky

and it's a very old ancient pre-christian myth :

A pagan festival associated with the winter solstice

The comparison of the feast of Christmas with that of the Saturnalia in ancient Rome has been made for a long time. Marked by great popular celebrations, the Saturnalia saw social barriers disappear: we organized meals, we exchanged gifts, we offered figurines to children and we placed green plants in houses, especially holly, mistletoe and ivy. . From 274, the Saturnalia are extended on December 25 by the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti 'the day of birth of Sol Invictus', the return of the Sun, the lengthening of the day.

For a long time, the year began with the first days of spring, which also gave rise to rites. Symmachus wrote at the end of the fourth century that “in the first days of March, in the city, we saw the rise of the custom of offering gifts in memory of King Tatius who had been the first to read the signs of good auspices for the year to come in the branches of the fertile tree that was in the sacred grove of Strena. 4 Some Jewish and Christian scholars have written that the festivals of Hanukkah and the Nativity were created to counterbalance the festivals of the “Undefeated Sun”. In the Middle Ages, the feast of the Fools gave rise to so much excess that it was limited, even cropped.

Ethnobotanists like Jonathan Ott suggest the idea that Santa's red-and-white outfit is linked to the fly agaric used by shamans in Siberia for its psychoactive properties that alter their state of consciousness, thus being able to realize their 'flight' through the smoke hole of a yurt (this shamanic ritual being analogous to the passage of Santa Claus through the chimneys) . Historian Ronald Hutton considers this thesis to be without serious foundation. The flying reindeer could symbolize the use of fly agaric by Sami shamans.

Other hypotheses link Santa Claus to Norse mythology. He could trace his origins to the gods Thor, an old man dressed in red and with a white beard traveling in his chariot pulled by goats, or Odin riding Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse (avatar of Santa's sleigh, pulled by eight reindeer) 10. Certain ethnologists, such as Arnold van Gennep, want to see in it the substitute or the survival of an alleged Celtic god Gargan who wore a hood and boots.



<header class="entry-header"> Christmas or Yule <time class="entry-date published" datetime="2015-11-12T03:16:19+00:00">November 12, 2015</time> (https://paganneedles.wordpress.com/2015/11/12/christmas-or-yule/) / Cierra Tuatha (https://paganneedles.wordpress.com/author/jbcosca/)
</header> The flying reindeer, sleigh, and the entire Santa Claus mythology originates from Turanian Shamanistic reindeer nomads of Northern Europe and Siberia and has actually nothing to do with Christianity…
https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/388353_325383280806545_1606673746_n.jpg?w=510&h=290 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/388353_325383280806545_1606673746_n.jpg)
“Although most people see Christmas as a Christian holiday, most of the symbols and icons we associate with Christmas celebrations are actually derived from the shamanistic traditions of the tribal peoples of pre-Christian Northern Europe. The sacred mushroom of these people was the red and white amanita muscaria (fly agaric) mushroom … These peoples lived in dwellings made of birch and reindeer hide, called ‘yurts.’ Somewhat similar to a teepee, the yurt’s central smoke hole is often also used as an entrance. After gathering the mushrooms from under the sacred trees where they appeared, the shamans would fill their sacks and return home. Climbing down the chimney-entrances, they would share out the mushroom’s gifts with those within….
https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/377305_327399840604889_1995402682_n.jpg?w=510&h=531 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/377305_327399840604889_1995402682_n.jpg)
.
Have you ever wondered why on Christmas we cut down/carry evergreen trees inside our houses, decorate them with fancy ornaments, and place presents underneath them?”So, why do people bring Pine trees into their houses at the Winter Solstice, placing brightly colored (Red and White) packages under their boughs, as gifts to show their love for each other and as representations of the lov e of God and the gift of his Sons life? It is because, underneath the Pine bough is the exact location where one would find this ‘Most Sacred’ Substance, the Amanita muscaria (Fly agaric), in the wild.” -James Arthur, “Mushrooms and Mankind”The Amanita muscaria (Fly agaric) is the red and white magic mushroom that grows almost exclusively beneath Pine trees. One of the active substances in the hallucinogenic mushroom is DMT, an entheogen naturally produced in the brain’s pineal gland. The pinecone-shaped pine-al gland is an organ that produces the same DMT found in the pine tree fungus, Amanita muscaria.”The Pine tree is one of the well-known central relics of Christmas. Under this tree is where those who are deemed good find their reward in the form of a present. A big red and white rounded mushroom grows under the very tree we are to look under on Christmas morning to find our gift.” -James Arthur, “Mushrooms and Mankind”To this day Siberian shamans dress in ceremonial red and white fur-trimmed jackets to gather the magic mushrooms. First they pick and place the mushrooms to partially dry on nearby pine boughs which prepares them for ingestion and makes the load lighter. This is why we decorate our Christmas trees with ornaments and bulbs, because the gatherers would always adorn trees with drying mushrooms. Next the shaman collects his red and white presents in a sack and proceeds to travel from house to house delivering them. During Siberian winters, the snow piles up past the doors of their yurts (tipis), so the red and white clad shaman must climb down the smoke-hole (chimney) to deliver the presents in his sack. Finally the appreciative villagers string the mushrooms up or put them in stockings hung affront the fire to dry. When they awake in the morning, their presents from under the pine tree are all dried and ready to eat.https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/379026_329141653764041_1552352116_n.jpg?w=510&h=318 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/379026_329141653764041_1552352116_n.jpg)Most of the major elements of the modern Christmas celebration, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, magical reindeer and the giving of gifts, are originally based upon the traditions surrounding the harvest and consumption of these most sacred mushrooms.The World Tree: Ancient Turanian tribes believed in the idea of a World Tree. The World Tree was seen as a kind of cosmic axis, onto which the planes of the universe are fixed. The roots of the World Tree stretch down into the underworld, its trunk is the “middle earth” of everyday existence, and its branches reach upwards into the heavenly realm. The amanita muscaria mushrooms grow only under certain types of trees, mostly firs and evergreens. The mushroom caps are the fruit of the larger mycelium beneath the soil which exists in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the tree. To ancient people, these mushrooms were literally “the fruit of the tree.” The North Star was also considered sacred, since all other stars in the sky revolved around its fixed point. They associated this “Pole Star” with the World Tree and the central axis of the universe. The top of the World Tree touched the North Star, and the spirit of the shaman would climb the metaphorical tree, thereby passing into the realm of the gods. This is the true meaning of the star on top of the modern Christmas tree, and also the reason that the super-shaman Santa makes his home at the North Pole. Ancient peoples were amazed at how these magical mushrooms sprang from the earth without any visible seed. They considered this “virgin birth” to have been the result of the morning dew, which was seen as the semen of the deity. The silver tinsel we drape onto our modern Christmas tree represents this divine fluid.
.
https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/398049_332309303447276_134120424_n.jpg?w=510 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/398049_332309303447276_134120424_n.jpg).
The Shamans of Siberia use Amanita muscaria (Fly agaric) for recreational or ritualistic purposes. They use a dried preparation called ‘mukhomor’ to speak to their gods. These people, the Kamchadales and the Koryaks, eat between one and three dried mushrooms. They believe that smaller mushrooms and those with a large quantity of small warts are more active than pale red ones and ones with fewer spots. The Koryak women chew the sun-dried agaric and roll the product into small sausages, which the men swallow. The Koryaks also eat the flesh of slaughtered reindeer which have recently eaten fly agaric, but whose psychotropic condition has subsided. In a similar fashion to the Sami, the Siberians discovered that their urine contained the active principle of the fungi and they could consume this recycled product with less of the undesirable poisonous effects of the raw toadstool.During a mushroom-induced trance, the shaman would start to twitch and sweat before falling into a deep coma-like sleep. During his coma, the shaman’s soul left his body as an animal and flew to the ‘other world’ where it communicated with the spirits. The shaman hoped these spirits could help him deal with major problems, such as outbreaks of sickness in the village, by imparting medical knowledge from the gods.On awaking, the shaman found their muscular systems had been so stimulated that they were able to perform spectacular physical feats with seemingly little effort – such as making a gigantic leap to clear a small obstacle. The effect on animals was the same, and a ‘bemushroomed’ reindeer traditionally guarded each shaman.The poorer classes, who could not afford the time to gather the toadstools, would drink the urine of the better-off, collected in bowls or skin bags. Evidence suggests the drug’s hallucinogens remained effective even having passed through five or six people, and some scholars maintain that this is the true origin of the expression ‘to get pissed’ – rather than having anything to do with alcohol intoxication.

https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/398051_333629509981922_1226728748_n.jpg?w=510&h=382 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/398051_333629509981922_1226728748_n.jpg).
Reindeer were the sacred animals of these (Turanian) semi-nomadic people, as the reindeer provided food, shelter, clothing and other necessities. Reindeer are also fond of eating the amanita (Fly agaric) mushrooms; they will seek them out, and then prance about while under their influence … The effects of the amanita mushroom usually include sensations of size distortion and flying. The feeling of flying could account for the legends of flying reindeer, and legends of shamanic journeys included stories of winged reindeer, transporting their riders up to the highest branches of the World Tree.
https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/394243_334900183188188_2029081520_n.jpg?w=510 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/394243_334900183188188_2029081520_n.jpg)
Santa Claus, super ShamanAlthough the modern image of Santa Claus was “created” at least in part by the advertising department of Coca-Cola, in truth his appearance, clothing, mannerisms and companions all mark him as the reincarnation of these ancient mushroom-gathering shamans. One of the side effects of eating amanita mushrooms is that the skin and facial features take on a flushed, ruddy glow. This is why Santa is always shown with glowing red cheeks and nose. Even Santa’s jolly “Ho, ho, ho!” is the euphoric laugh of one who has indulged in the magic fungus. .

[Johnny V]

i never believed in him

[GDDR6]

Never stopped ;)

[Comealongwithme]

I murdered Santa. Sorry.

[Comealongwithme]

I murdered Santa. Sorry.

[Nurzat]

never believed in Santa, my parents made it clear the presents are from them and that we don't afford much, especially if I don't deserve it. anyway I didn't care that much of Christmas, it was nowhere near what it is today as media coverage and madness 30 years ago in rural northern Romania. I don't like Christmas and, if my wife wouldn't be so much into it, I would gladly ignore it (I am no Grinch either, I have nothing against whoever celebrates it).

however, I dislike all the noise this brings into radio, tv, internet, at work etc for a whole month, I started to hate getting presents and end friendships just not to have to run for shitty gifts, to receive shitty gifts and to attend Christmas parties. by 35 you start to cut some noise off yout life and try to enjoy something you really love in the very little free time you get.

don't be afraid to end friendships that annoy and drain you of energy! it's worth it!

[Peterski]

I never believed in Santa.

Not even at the very beginning, do you remember that?:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AndFXlMffQ8

[michal3141]

Not even at the very beginning, do you remember that?:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AndFXlMffQ8

To be precise: I don't remember believing in Santa.

[Incal]

And we do not put a Christmas tree, but rather the "Belén" or "Nacimiento".

https://i.imgur.com/EgWDCQV.jpg


We place both.

[Nomadian90']

When I was a child, the cult of the American gnome from northern Finland, who drinks coca cola and goes down the chimney, only just appeared in post-communist Poland. This is only the effect of the americanization of the East.
In my region, children were given gifts by a character called Gwiazdor. Is derived a long tradition of carollers celebrating their homes around Christmas. This was the case in the north and north-west of Poland. In the east, Grandfather Frost a figure derived from the times of pagan Ruthenia, dominated. Nobody thought then that the christian bishop, the Greek Nikolaos from Mira, would be equated with the legendary gift distributors.
Saint Nikolaos is venerated in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. With catholics he has his memory on december 6. It is not a good idea to put a = sign between the christian sant and the idiot from commercials and movies. That is why we must committed to telling children who "Santa Claus" really is.

[Richmondbread]

indeed the origin of : Père Noël (<small>French pronunciation: ​</small>[pɛʁ nɔ.ɛl] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/French)), "Father Christmas", sometimes called 'Papa Noël' ("Daddy Christmas") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A8re_No%C3%ABl ,is not of christian origin at all ,it's come from an collective hallucination by the samis in the great north,they seen him in sky

and it's a very old ancient pre-christian myth :

A pagan festival associated with the winter solstice

The comparison of the feast of Christmas with that of the Saturnalia in ancient Rome has been made for a long time. Marked by great popular celebrations, the Saturnalia saw social barriers disappear: we organized meals, we exchanged gifts, we offered figurines to children and we placed green plants in houses, especially holly, mistletoe and ivy. . From 274, the Saturnalia are extended on December 25 by the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti 'the day of birth of Sol Invictus', the return of the Sun, the lengthening of the day.

For a long time, the year began with the first days of spring, which also gave rise to rites. Symmachus wrote at the end of the fourth century that “in the first days of March, in the city, we saw the rise of the custom of offering gifts in memory of King Tatius who had been the first to read the signs of good auspices for the year to come in the branches of the fertile tree that was in the sacred grove of Strena. 4 Some Jewish and Christian scholars have written that the festivals of Hanukkah and the Nativity were created to counterbalance the festivals of the “Undefeated Sun”. In the Middle Ages, the feast of the Fools gave rise to so much excess that it was limited, even cropped.

Ethnobotanists like Jonathan Ott suggest the idea that Santa's red-and-white outfit is linked to the fly agaric used by shamans in Siberia for its psychoactive properties that alter their state of consciousness, thus being able to realize their 'flight' through the smoke hole of a yurt (this shamanic ritual being analogous to the passage of Santa Claus through the chimneys) . Historian Ronald Hutton considers this thesis to be without serious foundation. The flying reindeer could symbolize the use of fly agaric by Sami shamans.

Other hypotheses link Santa Claus to Norse mythology. He could trace his origins to the gods Thor, an old man dressed in red and with a white beard traveling in his chariot pulled by goats, or Odin riding Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse (avatar of Santa's sleigh, pulled by eight reindeer) 10. Certain ethnologists, such as Arnold van Gennep, want to see in it the substitute or the survival of an alleged Celtic god Gargan who wore a hood and boots.



<header class="entry-header"> Christmas or Yule <time class="entry-date published" datetime="2015-11-12T03:16:19+00:00">November 12, 2015</time> (https://paganneedles.wordpress.com/2015/11/12/christmas-or-yule/) / Cierra Tuatha (https://paganneedles.wordpress.com/author/jbcosca/)
</header> The flying reindeer, sleigh, and the entire Santa Claus mythology originates from Turanian Shamanistic reindeer nomads of Northern Europe and Siberia and has actually nothing to do with Christianity…
https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/388353_325383280806545_1606673746_n.jpg?w=510&h=290 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/388353_325383280806545_1606673746_n.jpg)
“Although most people see Christmas as a Christian holiday, most of the symbols and icons we associate with Christmas celebrations are actually derived from the shamanistic traditions of the tribal peoples of pre-Christian Northern Europe. The sacred mushroom of these people was the red and white amanita muscaria (fly agaric) mushroom … These peoples lived in dwellings made of birch and reindeer hide, called ‘yurts.’ Somewhat similar to a teepee, the yurt’s central smoke hole is often also used as an entrance. After gathering the mushrooms from under the sacred trees where they appeared, the shamans would fill their sacks and return home. Climbing down the chimney-entrances, they would share out the mushroom’s gifts with those within….
https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/377305_327399840604889_1995402682_n.jpg?w=510&h=531 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/377305_327399840604889_1995402682_n.jpg)
.
Have you ever wondered why on Christmas we cut down/carry evergreen trees inside our houses, decorate them with fancy ornaments, and place presents underneath them?”So, why do people bring Pine trees into their houses at the Winter Solstice, placing brightly colored (Red and White) packages under their boughs, as gifts to show their love for each other and as representations of the lov e of God and the gift of his Sons life? It is because, underneath the Pine bough is the exact location where one would find this ‘Most Sacred’ Substance, the Amanita muscaria (Fly agaric), in the wild.” -James Arthur, “Mushrooms and Mankind”The Amanita muscaria (Fly agaric) is the red and white magic mushroom that grows almost exclusively beneath Pine trees. One of the active substances in the hallucinogenic mushroom is DMT, an entheogen naturally produced in the brain’s pineal gland. The pinecone-shaped pine-al gland is an organ that produces the same DMT found in the pine tree fungus, Amanita muscaria.”The Pine tree is one of the well-known central relics of Christmas. Under this tree is where those who are deemed good find their reward in the form of a present. A big red and white rounded mushroom grows under the very tree we are to look under on Christmas morning to find our gift.” -James Arthur, “Mushrooms and Mankind”To this day Siberian shamans dress in ceremonial red and white fur-trimmed jackets to gather the magic mushrooms. First they pick and place the mushrooms to partially dry on nearby pine boughs which prepares them for ingestion and makes the load lighter. This is why we decorate our Christmas trees with ornaments and bulbs, because the gatherers would always adorn trees with drying mushrooms. Next the shaman collects his red and white presents in a sack and proceeds to travel from house to house delivering them. During Siberian winters, the snow piles up past the doors of their yurts (tipis), so the red and white clad shaman must climb down the smoke-hole (chimney) to deliver the presents in his sack. Finally the appreciative villagers string the mushrooms up or put them in stockings hung affront the fire to dry. When they awake in the morning, their presents from under the pine tree are all dried and ready to eat.https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/379026_329141653764041_1552352116_n.jpg?w=510&h=318 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/379026_329141653764041_1552352116_n.jpg)Most of the major elements of the modern Christmas celebration, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, magical reindeer and the giving of gifts, are originally based upon the traditions surrounding the harvest and consumption of these most sacred mushrooms.The World Tree: Ancient Turanian tribes believed in the idea of a World Tree. The World Tree was seen as a kind of cosmic axis, onto which the planes of the universe are fixed. The roots of the World Tree stretch down into the underworld, its trunk is the “middle earth” of everyday existence, and its branches reach upwards into the heavenly realm. The amanita muscaria mushrooms grow only under certain types of trees, mostly firs and evergreens. The mushroom caps are the fruit of the larger mycelium beneath the soil which exists in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the tree. To ancient people, these mushrooms were literally “the fruit of the tree.” The North Star was also considered sacred, since all other stars in the sky revolved around its fixed point. They associated this “Pole Star” with the World Tree and the central axis of the universe. The top of the World Tree touched the North Star, and the spirit of the shaman would climb the metaphorical tree, thereby passing into the realm of the gods. This is the true meaning of the star on top of the modern Christmas tree, and also the reason that the super-shaman Santa makes his home at the North Pole. Ancient peoples were amazed at how these magical mushrooms sprang from the earth without any visible seed. They considered this “virgin birth” to have been the result of the morning dew, which was seen as the semen of the deity. The silver tinsel we drape onto our modern Christmas tree represents this divine fluid.
.
https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/398049_332309303447276_134120424_n.jpg?w=510 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/398049_332309303447276_134120424_n.jpg).
The Shamans of Siberia use Amanita muscaria (Fly agaric) for recreational or ritualistic purposes. They use a dried preparation called ‘mukhomor’ to speak to their gods. These people, the Kamchadales and the Koryaks, eat between one and three dried mushrooms. They believe that smaller mushrooms and those with a large quantity of small warts are more active than pale red ones and ones with fewer spots. The Koryak women chew the sun-dried agaric and roll the product into small sausages, which the men swallow. The Koryaks also eat the flesh of slaughtered reindeer which have recently eaten fly agaric, but whose psychotropic condition has subsided. In a similar fashion to the Sami, the Siberians discovered that their urine contained the active principle of the fungi and they could consume this recycled product with less of the undesirable poisonous effects of the raw toadstool.During a mushroom-induced trance, the shaman would start to twitch and sweat before falling into a deep coma-like sleep. During his coma, the shaman’s soul left his body as an animal and flew to the ‘other world’ where it communicated with the spirits. The shaman hoped these spirits could help him deal with major problems, such as outbreaks of sickness in the village, by imparting medical knowledge from the gods.On awaking, the shaman found their muscular systems had been so stimulated that they were able to perform spectacular physical feats with seemingly little effort – such as making a gigantic leap to clear a small obstacle. The effect on animals was the same, and a ‘bemushroomed’ reindeer traditionally guarded each shaman.The poorer classes, who could not afford the time to gather the toadstools, would drink the urine of the better-off, collected in bowls or skin bags. Evidence suggests the drug’s hallucinogens remained effective even having passed through five or six people, and some scholars maintain that this is the true origin of the expression ‘to get pissed’ – rather than having anything to do with alcohol intoxication.

https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/398051_333629509981922_1226728748_n.jpg?w=510&h=382 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/398051_333629509981922_1226728748_n.jpg).
Reindeer were the sacred animals of these (Turanian) semi-nomadic people, as the reindeer provided food, shelter, clothing and other necessities. Reindeer are also fond of eating the amanita (Fly agaric) mushrooms; they will seek them out, and then prance about while under their influence … The effects of the amanita mushroom usually include sensations of size distortion and flying. The feeling of flying could account for the legends of flying reindeer, and legends of shamanic journeys included stories of winged reindeer, transporting their riders up to the highest branches of the World Tree.
https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/394243_334900183188188_2029081520_n.jpg?w=510 (https://cierratuatha.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/394243_334900183188188_2029081520_n.jpg)
Santa Claus, super ShamanAlthough the modern image of Santa Claus was “created” at least in part by the advertising department of Coca-Cola, in truth his appearance, clothing, mannerisms and companions all mark him as the reincarnation of these ancient mushroom-gathering shamans. One of the side effects of eating amanita mushrooms is that the skin and facial features take on a flushed, ruddy glow. This is why Santa is always shown with glowing red cheeks and nose. Even Santa’s jolly “Ho, ho, ho!” is the euphoric laugh of one who has indulged in the magic fungus. .

False Atheist lies. Santa Claus is based on St. Nicholas. He's even called that some times.

[PlattitüdenPaule]

False Atheist lies. Santa Claus is based on St. Nicholas. He's even called that some times.

The christian iteration, yes.
"Santa Claus" or "Weihnachtsmann" as he is called here actually is based on the highest germanic god Odin/Wotan.
The children in old north germanic tribes would leave out food for Odin and hay/ oats for his horse Sleipnir around Yule time and in return the Allfather would leave them little gifts.

People would even decorate evergreens around that time. (Although without cutting/ killing them)

[Richmondbread]

The christian iteration, yes.
"Santa Claus" or "Weihnachtsmann" as he is called here actually is based on the highest germanic god Odin/Wotan.
The children in old north germanic tribes would leave out food for Odin and hay/ oats for his horse Sleipnir around Yule time and in return the Allfather would leave them little gifts.

People would even decorate evergreens around that time. (Although without cutting/ killing them)

Santa Means Saint. Santa Claus is based on St Nicholas of Myra- a real person who lived about 280 years AD

https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/saint-nicholas

[PlattitüdenPaule]

Santa Means Saint. Santa Claus is based on St Nicholas of Myra- a real person who lived about 280 years AD

https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/saint-nicholas

As I said, the christian iteration. I talked about the original from olden times though.

[Smitty]

My parents never taught me to believe in Santa Claus. In fact, we religiously avoided mention of him. No Santa songs, no Santa decorations, no myths, since my mother saw it as competition with the real meaning of Christmas. We celebrated the holiday, but it was more starkly religious. Same with the Easter bunny. For myself, I see it as harmless old European lore, but I would not present it as truth to a child.

[Richmondbread]

My parents never taught me to believe in Santa Claus. In fact, we religiously avoided mention of him. No Santa songs, no Santa decorations, no myths, since my mother saw it as competition with the real meaning of Christmas. We celebrated the holiday, but it was more starkly religious. Same with the Easter bunny. For myself, I see it as harmless old European lore, but I would not present it as truth to a child.

A religious spirit is not a Christian one.

[Smitty]

A religious spirit is not a Christian one.

What are you saying to me, Preacher? If anyone is a Christian, my mother is.

[alnortedelsur]

I still believe that Santa brings me my presents.

He lives in the North pole, right?

OH WAIT! Isn't it true?? :eek:

[Rafael Passoni]

If I remember well when I was around 8 years I caught my parents leaving gifts around our Christmas tree and I was shocked. I expected find Noël leaving gifts there lol.

[Universe]

https://i.imgur.com/ACFflFM.jpg

[TheMaestro]

Dunno but it was the age most of kids start to realise it. I remember one night I was really happy for Christmas.

And I said infront of my mom and sister that I can't wait to see what Santa brought for Christmas.
My sister started to laugh like Im joking and said that : " You "still" believe in Santa? "
I will always remember the mom's face looking at my sister with disgust.
Nevertheless it was probably the moment I realised or mostly started realising Santa is fake, My sister is 4 years older then me.