A fly agaric mushroom, the psychoactive mushroom at the heart of the controversial claim that Santa emerges from Sámi shamanic tradition. Photo by Tim Frandy.
Tim Frandy was interviewed for an article in National Geographic that talks about the origins of Santa Claus.
CENES’ Assistant Professor of Nordic Studies, Tim Frandy, was recently featured in an article in National Geographic discussing the emergent and spurious theory that Santa’s origins are to be found in Sámi shamanic tradition and the consumption of the psychoactive fly agaric mushroom.
Frandy discusses why this theory has caught the public imagination over the past decade, but ultimately serves as a kind of colonial extraction from Sámi culture.
