Pagan Christmas (30 page)

Frankincense and myrrh were among the most precious treasures of antiquity. Myrrh, the resin of the myrrh tree (Commiphora molmol, C. myrrha) was considered a miraculous substance and was used medicinally in many ways by ancient peoples. Its perfume and its healing effect were believed to prolong life beyond death, which is why the ancient Egyptians used it for embalming. Even today, it remains an ingredient in herbal medicines.

Frankincense or olibanum (Hebrew levonah, Arabic luban) is the name of the resin of the true frankincense tree, Boswellia sacra, a member of the plant family Burseraceae. The tree comes from Somalia and southern Arabia. The resin, the most important incense substance of the Old World, is collected from cuts made in the bark of the tree.

All three of the royal presents are used as incense substances. To the present day, the incenses used in Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches are liturgical mixtures of frankincense, myrrh, and gold leaf. In honor of epiphany, the English King Edward I sacrificed gold, myrrh, and frankincense in his church—a gift from one king to another, so to speak. “Just like gold, frankincense and myrrh seem to have been symbolic of our inner need to communicate with the gods or with our higher self” (Sellar and Watt 1997, 142).

Gold,4 myrrh, and frankincense (olibanum) have also been used as aphrodisiacs and love magic!

“When a person had the ‘heavy need’ for the first time” it helped to carry an amulet, a piece of paper on which the following Latin phrases were written:

Caspar sert myrrham, thus Melchior, Balthasar aurum

Haec tria qui secum portabit nomina regum

Solvitur a morbo Christi pietate caduco.5

Postcard for Three Kings Day. (Köpenicker Cartoon Gesellschaft, from around 2001)

We don’t really know what “heavy need” refers to: melancholy or moral scruples, perhaps. However, whoever had been overcome by this need was supposed to carry around the amulet for protection.

SYMBOLIC ATTRIBUTES OF THE THREE KINGS

Three Magi Smoking Substance

This mixture is known throughout Arabic and Islamic culture and serves as a basis for many holy and protective incense and smudging rituals.

2 parts frankincense (Boswellia sacra)

1 part myrrh (Commiphora spp.)

1 part Syrian rue seed (Peganum harmala)

Grind frankincense and myrrh and mix with the Syrian rue seed.* Place small amounts of the mixture on the burning embers. The perfume is very relaxing and has a warm, spicy, resinous quality.

Kings’ Incense Recipes

Three Kings Incense

3 parts frankincense (olibanum) 2 parts myrrh

Grind frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, and star anise in the mortar. Mix the powdered blend with the sticky storax and knead. Place in small amounts on the embers. The perfume spreads out slowly: sweet, warm, and spicy.

Three Kings Frankincense†

½ part cinnamon rind

Grind and mix all ingredients. Place by teaspoonfuls on the glowing coals. The smoke has a lovely aroma, composed of solemn frankincense, festive myrrh, warm benzoin, fresh mastic, and spicy cinnamon.

*In Afghanistan on New Year’s Day, for a little money, children will do a smudge for you with Syrian rue seeds.

†From Fischer-Rizzi 2001, 144.

Benzoin is a resin that has been used in many mixtures for the smudging nights, especially at the end, on Three Kings Day. This sweet resin, which smells a little like vanilla, is one of the most important shamanic and magic smoking substances of Southeast Asia. It comes from the benzoin tree (Styrax benzoin). “Benzoin is often used in erotic incense” (Rovesti 1995, 100).

Frankincense, the Secret of Old Arabia

The smoke that comes from those frankincense containers [censers] that the celibate churchmen swing around not only helps with worship, but also helps arouse sexual feelings, because frankincense is an aphrodisiac. Is this why so many old ladies go to church?

WIESHAMMER 1995, 105

Caravans of dreams once wandered through the desert sands, bringing precious goods and gifts. Punt, the legendary land of frankincense, may have been present-day Yemen, part of the penisula known as Arabia. Many hints carved into stone refer to the ancient frankincense trade. The “illustrated wall paper” of Bir Hima, in the southernmost part of Arabia, is among the oldest petroglyphs of humanity. There are pictures of shamanic hunting rituals, camels, and other fertility symbols, such as rams: “For around nine thousand years, the nomads, warlords, and caravan leaders left thousands and thousands of carvings: scenes from their lives, from their time, a huge encyclopedia of the natural and cultural history of Arabia” (George 2002, 39).

In antiquity, the most commonly used name for the southernmost part of the Arabian Peninsula was Arabia Felix. From this region

… come the treasures of Arabia … of this land with the name of “the lucky,” and “the blessed.” Its most important products were frankincense and myrrh;6 and the latter comes also from the land of the troglodytes [cave people]. Frankincense comes only from Arabia, and even there it cannot be found everywhere. In the middle of Arabia live the Atramites [an Arabic ethnic group], in a district of the Sabaeans, with the capital of their region, Sabota [=Sabbatha], high up on a mountain. From there it takes an eight-day journey to get to the place of frankincense, which is called Sariba, which means—in the interpretation of the Greeks—“secret” (Pliny the Elder II, 51f).

Incense from Sheba

3 parts frankincense, Boswellia sacra

2 parts myrrh, Commiphora spp.

2 parts aloewood (eagle wood), Aquillaria agallocha

1 part cassia, Cinnamomum cassia

1 part storax, Styrax officinalis

1 part cardamom, Elettaria cardamomum

Grind, mix, and pulverize the ingredients. Place small portions on the burning embers. It is important to grind the aloewood very finely. Otherwise, its special scent will not be apparent in this mixture.

This incense is also intended to perfume the body and the clothes. To do this, put the smoking pan on the floor and stand with legs wide apart above it. And just like that, you can be Queen of Sheba!

A nugget of olibanum (frankincense).

The Minoans, the Arabian neighbors of the Atramitans, claimed that they were descended from the Cretan king, Minos:

These people were the first of all to have traded in frankincense, and today they are still very important in the trade—which is why frankincense is also called “Mineaic.” Apart from them, no Arab recognizes the frankincense tree on sight; only three thousand families are supposed to know it. They have, one might say, the right formula for success in this area, but also an understanding of the special nature of their right to it. For they are considered holy, and are not supposed to dirty themselves (with women or funerals) during the time they are cutting down the trees or harvesting them. This insures that the “holiness” of the goods is even greater. Some say that the frankincense in the forests belongs to all the people; others say that they share it only once every year (Pliny the Elder II, 54).

Thus it seems that the holy ones were Minoans; they kept the secret of the lucky and blessed land. Maybe the three kings—or at least the one that brought the frankincense—were Minoans, also.

Frankincense for All!

… frankincense contains—like hashish—the substance tetrahydrocannabiol (THC).

HADERER 2002, 40

Many modern people assume that frankincense is just an old element of the Christian Church. But the use of frankincense began in late antiquity, with the Roman Emperor Flavius Valerius Constantinus I (Constantine the Great, 272–337 CE). This is same Constantinus who made Christianity the Roman state religion in the year 324–325 CE. No one should be surprised to learn that the most important incense substances of the Christian Church are identical to those used by the pagans. Indeed, frankincense and myrrh were very important pagan smoking substances. By state decree, they were Christianized—meaning that they were profaned for the pagans and sanctified for the Christians.

Church Incense

Adapted from Frerichs
et al.
1938 II, 307

Ingredients

2 parts frankincense, Olibani (200 g)

3 parts storax, Styracis calamit (300 g)*

3 parts benzoin, Benzoes (300 g)

1 part amber, Succini (100 g)

2½ parts myrrh, Myrrhae (250 g)

1 part lavender blossoms, Florum lavendulae (100 g)†

Grind all ingredients finely and mix together well. Aromatic essences can be blended into the powder. Some churches use frankincense blended with essential oils of lavender, bergamot, cloves, and cinnamon.

*The storax (also sometimes called styrax) to which this recipe refers is a pressed byproduct of the winnowing process, which is used as an incense substance. The plant source of this storax is the oriental amber tree (Liquidambar orientalis) from Syria. Its resin contains 30 percent cinnamon oil, some cinnamon esters, 2 percent vanillin, sterols, and resin.

†“In the Alps, the lavender herb is very holy. It works against the devil, and can even save witches being pursued by the devil—they only need to sit on it! This is all an echo of pagan times” (Söhns 1920, 62).

The smoke of frankincense can cause pharmacological effects. Approximately two-thirds of its constituents are expressed unchanged in the smoke, and thus can be taken in directly through the mucous membranes when inhaled. From there, they circulate into the blood. The aroma of frankincense also may have a strong psychological impact. For some people, the scent may call up bad memories of childhood, images of dark and cold churches, or priests who prey upon the acolytes. Some may even draw an association with Christian morality and experience feelings of inhibition. For other people, however, this aroma can evoke passionate, fiery love; erotic feelings; and sensual joy. Thus for some, frankincense is an aphrodisiac, while for others, it has just the opposite effect. Everyone must follow his or her own nose!

Here ends our journey through the ethnobotany of Christmas. It has led us along twisting pathways to many unexpected and amazing discoveries. We have found that the ritual use of plants associated worldwide with the celebration of Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ, actually has its roots in much older pagan traditions that celebrate the cycle of nature’s fertility and the resurrection of the sun. Despite individual interpretations and belief systems, the message of these plants is clear: Let us trust in the never-ending cycle of life!

Footnotes

1. Nietzsche, Friedrich, Autobiography from the years 1856 to 1869, Schlechta-Index III, 935.

The Ethnobotany of Christmas

1. In Bavaria, sloe (Prunus spinosa L., Rosaceae) was burned in the glütl (smoking pan) to smoke out witches and demons (Weustenfeld 1996, 107).

2. In Bavaria, gun salutes are fired off every afternoon until December 24th.

3. In order to make fruit trees fertile, they are beaten with bags of peas on St. Thomas Day (Seligmann 1996, 100).

4. Farmer’s saying: “St. Valentine with a little hatchet puts Christmas Day in the bag!” (Fink 1983, 331).

5. Most Christmas songs were composed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; others are from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

6. Melody composed by Jh. Fr. Reichardt in 1797.

7. Translator’s note: In the German original, there is wordplay here with der Heiland (Christ, the Savior) and the meanings of heil (wholeness, salvation, healing) that does not come through in English.

8. Music composed by Friedrich von Spee, after a melody from the Rheinfelsische Songbook of the year 1666.

A Pagan Feast

1. Published by Eugen Diederichs in 1937 in Jena.

2. Red is also the color of thunder (Braem 1995, 72), and the color of the thunder god, Donar (Germanic) or Thor (Norse). It reminds us of the color of the fly agaric mushroom, which was believed in northern European mythology to be created from lightning and thunder.

3. Zauberei (magic, sorcery, witchcraft, conjuring ) comes from the Old High German word zoubar (Nemec 1976, 100).

4. Circa 55–116/120 CE.

5. Also known as twelve nights, lot nights (=nights favorable for augury and divination), and in-between-nights or undernights (=shady dark nights that attract spirits of the invisible world).

From the Shamanic World Tree to the Christmas Tree

1. Forstner, Dorothea, Die Welt der Christlichen Smbole (Tirol: Wien, 1986), 150.

2. Christmas tree is also the black-market name for a barbiturate (Tuinal) that is sold in the form of red and green pills (Landy 1971, 50).

3. A large number of fir cones indicate a hard winter to come, but also point to a good harvest. “To help little children go to sleep, put a fir cone under the pillow” (Hiller 1989, 285).

4. The name of the leather tanning agent tannin—a type of chemical compound widely found in the plant kingdom—comes from the German word for fir, tanne.

5. The popular Christmas scent also has a positive influence on the mind: “Spruce and fir change disquieting inner anxiety and tension into quietness and balance” (Strassmann 1994, 139).

6. Pine branches and pinecones were associated with the ancient god Sylvanus, god of the grove and the fields (Simon 1990, 204f).

7. Bari, the Italian town in which the bones of St. Nicholas of Myra are kept, once belonged to Spain.

8. The description “castrated cock” refers to Sinterklaas’s colorful bishop’s miter.

9. Brown cardamom fruits are from the greater cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb. Alainci), also known as ginger plant.

10. Translators note: This is a play on the Latin species name, Geranium robertianum.

11. Kappell, F., In Zeitschrift des Vereins für rheinische und westfälische Volkskunde, 1907 (quoted in Golowin 1985, 122).

12. Nearly all of these plants are also called “witches’ weed” in the folk vernacular.

13. The ravens’ names, Hugin and Munin, reflect the flighty aspects of the human mind: thought and memory.