Cannabis: A Christmas Curiosity

The Winter Holidays have been celebrated for thousands of years, changing form as human culture shifts through time. The Winter Solstice has been the focus of midwinter celebrations in the Northern hemisphere for thousands of years. Neolithic monuments like Stonehenge and Bru na Boinne are aligned to capture the first rays of the rising sun on the Solstice, bringing the hope of the returning sun in the days and months ahead.

The Winter Solstice celebrates the release from the coldest darkest days and nights of the year and it is easy to see why ancient people, so completely bound to their environment, celebrated the return of the Sun.

Many of our Christmas rituals and traditions have absorbed our forebears’ Solstice festivities; the use of Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe in our holiday decorations hark back to ancient times and if we delve deep enough we find cannabis has also held a place in our winter holidays for centuries.

Christmas Carolling,  the tradition where folks go house to house singing Christmas Carols on the nights before Christmas is purported to have roots in the old Northern European festival of Koleda. Koleda celebrated the return of the Winter Sun God; young men would dress up  as magical creatures, halfman, half animal, they proceeded from house to house singing, they were led by an Elder and they carried a ‘Bride’ on a woven hemp seat as she sat spinning hemp on a spindle. The ritual singing brought blessings to each home and chased out any evil spirits lurking within. The householders would pay for this cleansing with hemp fiber which the Bride would spin into thread which would become clothing for the newborn in the community. Ethnologists believe this ritual formed the basis of our Christian caroling tradition, though the part played by cannabis fell by the wayside.

In other places cannabis has maintained its significance. In modern day Poland a hemp seed soup, Semieniatka, is served on Christmas Eve and offered to the family ancestors who are invited into the home that night. 

In Germany, where our St Nicholas or Santa Claus traditions started, cannabis was one of the sacred herbs that this mythical figure smoked in his pipe. This special smoking blend, included special herbs; mugwort, juniper and hemp seeds which crackled and popped. This special smoke is known as Knastert. Another ancient hemp recipe from Germany is Christmas Beer, which infused extra herbal ingredients, including cannabis, into the holiday brew.

It makes sense that cannabis formed part of the winter holidays as the ancients knew that this special plant had many gifts to offer. Not only fiber for weaving and seeds for nutrition but also medicinal properties that enhanced health and relaxation during the dark days of midwinter.

Centuries later, we welcome back cannabis to embellish our own holidays, a reminder that nothing is really new under the life-giving sun!

From all of us at Synergy Wellness we wish you a very merry Solstice and Christmas and a Happy New Year!

THE GARDENS OF THE KLAMATH MOUNTAINS

by Dharma Clement

At Synergy Wellness the majority of our flowers come from a wonderful garden on the southern end of the Klamath Mountain Range, that overlooks the snow capped Marble Mountains at a 3,600 foot elevation, the local flora enjoys a particular micro climate of the Klamath River water basin.

Some of the rocks that built these Klamath mountains traveled thousands of miles across the Pacific, often as chains of volcanic islands that were formed in the tropics. Today’s limestones and marbles in the range began as coral reefs. The land was repeatedly uplifted, folded, and sheared by faults that brought peridotite and serpentine from Earth’s mantle to the surface.

Where the garden is in particular, we have beautiful mountains consisting of a single long crest that runs over 20 miles east to west. Much of the range is composed of reddish peridotite, giving it a distinct appearance. This mix of volcanic soil and serpentine soil provides a particular soil environment of clay and silt and loam that a variety of cannabis plants can thrive in.

While other gardeners might prefer the ease of cultivating in sandy loam soil of a river bed, the minerals and natural nutrients in the clay and sand of ancient soils provide that extra character to the flowers grown in this particular geographical area.

Another attribute of cultivating cannabis in the northern mountains of California is with the higher elevation, there is additional UV exposure to botanical plants, those UV-A and UV-B rays that give us a great tan which we avoid because of the risk of skin cancer, are meanwhile being happily absorbed by the wild flowers, the evergreens, and cannabis plants of the area.

Many cannabis varietals thrive with this higher intensity of Ultraviolet rays, increasing their rate of photosynthesis and accelerating their conversion of sugars into trichomes, which ironically, they do so to protect themselves from those same UV rays, a natural sunscreen of sorts, and pleasantly provide us humans with a better herb.

In the Klamath mountains, the UV rating starts at 3 in March, the spring season, and goes as high as 7 during the summer months before it settles back down to 3 in October, the harvest season. Gardeners beware, these UV ratings match the tropics so be vigilant to wear sunscreen if you're out in the sun for more than 30 minutes.

But unlike the tropics, the cannabis grown in the Klamath mountains of California enjoy hot summer days and cool summer nights, with the dew drops on the leaves and early morning tully fog in the valley. Along with this daily baptism of water from the rolling clouds, the natural springs on the land are derived from snowmelt, slowly filtering through the serpentine soil, enriched with natural minerals and absent of any toxins, waiting for us in the natural granite aquifers.

The terroir of these Klamath mountains ; with its ancient oceanbeds , volcanic rocks, snowmelt waters and tropical sunshine is something special for any human to enjoy and creates something unique when it comes to the botanical characteristics of the cannabis varietals ☺

Tips for a Happy and Healthy Holiday

Thanksgiving is here a few days early this year and preparations are underway for the holiday with all its culinary delights. After the last couple of years of social distancing, we are now free to celebrate with family and friends without restriction. Those of us who will spend time with older friends and family members as well as children are keenly aware that Covid and other virus’ spread when people come together indoors. There are plenty of simple innovations which minimize risk of transmission and help everybody feel safe and relaxed in a social setting.

In addition to taking Covid boosters and flu shots, this is the season to lend extra support to our immune systems. By eating a healthy diet, getting proper sleep and daily exercise we lay the groundwork for creating a strong immune response to all infectious viruses’. Following the positive results of the  2020 University of Oregon research paper on CBDA and CBGA for Covid prevention, Synergy Wellness has created a Doctor’s Formula of these two cannabinoids in their acid form for use as an immunity boosting supplement, perfect for the holiday season.

Handwashing and mask wearing remain a mainstay, but it's not always practical in social settings, and social distancing around a dinner table isn’t  easy either. Allowing fresh air flowing into rooms definitely improves interior air quality, moving into different rooms inside the house and spending time outdoors, if possible, will all reduce the transmission risk. Diffusing essential oils indoors is helpful, Rosemary and Lavender are both indicated for improving air quality and neutralizing airborne viruses.

As much fun as it is to entertain guests for the holidays, the usual pressures are intensified this year with our awareness of the viruses in our midst. Keeping anxiety at bay is key to enjoying our time, infusing a favorite drink with 5-10 drops of CBD tincture has a relaxing effect, hot or cold drinks work equally well. CBD-infused edibles are a nice treat, or the instantaneous effects of a CBD vape will elicit calm in the face of any calamities with the turkey.

The absence of anxiety paves the way for clear thinking around health safety, allowing us the luxury of gathering without taking unnecessary risks.