Latest News:  

English>>Life & Culture

Ho, ho, ho! SantaCon is coming to towns

By Beth J. Harpaz (Shanghai Daily)

08:42, December 24, 2012

Hordes of jolly red suited types are gathering at cities around the world to indulge in some festive cheer ... and beers. So is SantaCon a fun charity event, or just an excuse for drunken misbehavior? Beth J. Harpaz reports.

It's a meetup, it's a party, it's a spectacle: SantaCon is coming to town - in fact, to nearly 300 towns and cities around the world.

Maybe you've seen them in your neighborhood: Dozens of Santas ho, ho, ho-ing in and out of bars, stopping traffic and posing for photos. The red-suited, white-bearded revelers have gathered in Trafalgar Square in London and Tian'anmen Square in Beijing. They've walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. And this past weekend in Los Angeles, they visited the space shuttle en masse at the California Science Center.

"It's innocent fun," said Tim Mambort, 27, who's been taking part in SantaCon in New York City for five years with friends from college. "You end up standing in a bar singing 'Jingle Bells' with people you just met, all dressed like Santa, or walking with hundreds of Santas to Central Park, or filling up an entire subway car with Santas."

But whether SantaCon is naughty or nice depends on whom you ask.

Organizers of the New York City event, which took place last Saturday, stressed that SantaCon "is not a bar crawl. Every time you call it that, a sugarplum fairy dies."

They said that 60 venues that took part in NYC SantaCon donated a portion of the day's proceeds to charity - raising an estimated US$45,000 - while the Santas were asked to bring two cans of food to support local food banks. Some 3,107 kilograms of canned food was collected at the starting point, with more handed in later.

【1】 【2】 【3】


We recommend:

40 sweet beauties dance Gangnam Style in bikini

Mysterious 'monsters' in deep sea

Most popular Chinese girls on Internet

Most popular Chinese actresses in 2012

Fairyland-look foggy scenery in Wuyuan

Elegant and sexy! Super models from Taiwan

Top 10 sports events of 2012

Top 10 most livable cities in the world

PK! Who is the most beautiful star?

Email|Print|Comments(Editor:杜明明、叶欣)

Leave your comment0 comments

  1. Name

  

Selections for you


  1. Weekly review of military photos (2012.12.17-12.21)

  2. Famous female political leaders of the world

  3. Animals receive Christmas treats at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo

  4. China's weekly story (2012.12.15-12.20)

  5. Beijing swimmers brave freezing cold

  6. On Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway

  7. Beijing: A vigorous and beautiful city

  8. Best trips for Christmas 2012

Most Popular

Opinions

  1. Why the young Chinese get physically weaker
  2. Why Discover China is popular in the West
  3. The laughter sounds too harsh
  4. Do not confuse Confucious with Santa Claus
  5. Losers' can flatter themselves in any culture
  6. Time to abandon Olympic obsession

What’s happening in China

People in Hainan enjoy warm weather

  1. China arrests 96 in doomsday cult's birth province
  2. 7 dead, 1 injured in NW China pile-up
  3. Officials to line up for Beijing buffets
  4. 58 students affected by suspected food poisoning
  5. 3,117 school buses put into service in Gansu