Literature on the reactions of contemporary human beings coping with certain kinds of extreme and unusual environments indicates the occasional experience of another entity appearing to provide help or advice, even when no such entity was in fact present. Sources of such reports reviewed in this article include spirit quests, solitary sailing, polar and mountain explorations, and the traumatic experiences of shipwreck and air-crash survivors in remote and hostile environments. The experience is frequently interpreted as a sign of psychiatric symptomatology, whereas it is not only quite common in such situations but may in fact be an adaptive reaction. It can be conveniently described in terms of Jaynes's (1976) theory of bicamerality, but its specific etiology and characteristics have not been adequately investigated.

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In this article we survey descriptions of Christmas celebrations contained in the diaries and narratives of polar explorers (mostly British) from 1818 to 1912. We find that Christmas was a time almost universally associated with the display of positive emotions, although this was in the context of increased amounts of stress associated with the challenges of over-wintering at high latitudes. Firstly, we argue that Christmas was crucial to the well-being of expedition participants because it opened emotional channels that enabled them to cope with stress. Secondly, we argue that Christmas revealed a play space in which certain types of normally deviant behaviour were welcomed. Thirdly, we argue that Christmas was a major nutritional event for over-wintering crew members, satisfying a need for calories that was rarely met in the everyday rations.

for additional information. This is an Open Access journal. This means that it uses a funding model that does not charge readers or their institutions for access. Readers may freely read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles. This journal is covered under the CC BY-NC-ND license.

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