At last: the Christmas mystery solved. Father Christmas's unwordly ability
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to deliver presents to every child once a year could actually be a hallucination induced by the consumption of fly-agaric mushrooms.
The theory was touted in a recent seminar by Dr Ian Edwards, head of education at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. Edwards said that the story of flying reindeer spread south to central Europe in the nineteenth century, having originated with the Semi people of Lapland.
Apparently the Samis used to feed red and white fly-agaric mushrooms to their reindeer and then drink the animals' urine, giving them a high similar to that of taking LSD. You have to wonder...how bored do you have to get before drinking reindeer urine seems like a good idea for a partyR One of the results of drinking this peculiar cocktail, the good doctor believes, was to give the impression of flying through space, reindeer in tow.
It may be something of a relief to hear that Edwards says this practice has diminished in recent years; possibly something to do with the bouts of vomiting and the coma it induces.