It was either this or a red nose...

Via the brilliant Pop-up City we discover that the Finnish Reindeer Herders Association is trying out a new way to reduce the estimated 2000 plus reindeer-related road accidents:

A new experiment involving the protection of free-roaming reindeer may just be inspired by Rudolph’s most virtuous characteristic. The project involves coating reindeer antlers with a specially formulated glow-in-the-dark liquid that aims to reduce reindeer-related traffic accidents.

Does make Rudolf's nose redundant though!

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Friday Fungus: The stuff we didn't eat!

No don't ask me - like a fool I didn't make any notes about the dozens of species that were either inedible, unpleasant, rock hard or outright poisonous! Some of them are in this basket - identify away!

We did learn that you can use Birch Polypores to light fires or make a plaster (I reckon they'd make a passing fair wall myself) and that, as ever, it's not as simple as it sounds when you ask: "is that mushrooms poisonous."

Also encountered were the remnants of mushrooms - oysters and chicken-of-the-woods that we might have been able to eat earlier in the season but now were old and rather chewed about by passing beasts and nibbled by maggots.

And we found some Amanita muscaria (you know the red and white magic mushrooms) - which pleased me most really and gave our guide the chance to tell the tale about the Sami. Mind you I like my version better!

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The Friday Fungus: Why reindeer can fly

As the festive season approaches I thought I touch on a topical subject - the uncanny ability of reindeer to fly. Now we all know that they can since Father Christmas delivers us all those lovely prezzies every year - and how would he do that without the sturdy assistance of Prancer, Dancer, Blitzen and all the reindeer crowd. But what you didn't know is that a mushroom - Amanita muscaria - might be the reason for Rudolf's aerobatics.

Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) - pictured above - is the classic toadstool on which should sit a fairy, gnome or pixie and is common right across the northern part of Eurasia (including Britain). And it is also the "magic mushroom" - sometimes called the sacred mushroom. Most books list it as poisonous - which is shorthand for saying this is the toadstool that contains a hallucinogenic drug. And deep in the bowels of the BBC's web-site is a lovely piece entitled; "The Influence of Fly Agaric on the Iconography of Father Christmas".

The gist of this little piece goes as follow:

"The Sami have a custom of feeding fly agaric to their deer and collecting the urine to drink. The reindeer's digestive system metabolises the more poisonous components of the toadstool, leaving urine with the hallucinogenic and psychotropic elements of the fungus intact. Drinking the urine gives a 'high' similar to taking LSD. Under the hallucinatory effects of the drink, the Sami thought their reindeer were flying through space, looking down on the world. The reindeers' liking for the toadstool hallucinogens are such that they, in turn, have been known to eat the snow on which intoxicated humans have urinated, creating a reciprocating cycle."

A whole new take on the term "pissed"!

Take a little closer look - you may think that American fizzy drink advertising was responsible for Santa's outfit? Look at that toadstool and think again!

"Siberian shamans live in tepee-like structures made of reindeer skin, called yurts, with a roof supported by a birch pole and a smokehole at the top. At the midwinter festivals of Annual Renewal, the shaman gathers the fly agaric from under sacred trees. Interestingly, whilst harvesting the toadstools, the shaman wears special attire, consisting of red and white fur-trimmed coats and long black boots ie, very much like the modern day depiction of Santa Claus. He then enters his yurt through the smokehole, carrying a sack full of dried fly agaric, and descends the birch pole to the floor. Once inside, the shaman performs his ceremonies and shares out the toadstool's gifts with those gathered inside. Following this, he leaves up the pole and back through the smokehole."
A great deal has been said about dear old Santa - but they never told you he was a drug dealer!

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