Santacon 2005
December 17, 2005 was a cold, wet, dreary Saturday in San Francisco, but that didn't stop the resilient City residents from coming out in costume to participate in the time-honored tradion of Santacon.
Santacon? How to describe it... Imagine a couple thousand folks hitting the streets in various Christmas-themed regalia, most of them dressed as some version of Santa Claus, to drink alcohol, wreak havoc, create mayhem, cause friendly disturbances, and basically be naughty (in the nicest of ways) while they ho-ho-hop from bar to bar (with a few pit-stops in between for free booze, merry-making, and revelry). Then imagine all that fake fur getting soaked with rain while the rabble-rousers get increasingly merry. Then crank up the noise level you're imagining by a factor of seven or so.
Imagine buses full of Santas, streets and sidewalks clogged with Santas, restaurants feeding hungry Santas and bars stuffed so full of Santas that all movement, aside from the lifting of drinks to mouths and the jiggling of jolly belly-laughter, is impossible.
That's sorta what Santacon in San Francisco is like. But it's a lot more fun - even in the rain - than it may sound. I braved the wind and rain, donned a Santa hat, and met my friends Nick and Michelle (who were dressed as Osanta bin Laden and Santa's little insurgent) and Suzie Snowflake (dressed, naturally, as a snowflake) for the red and white bar-crawl. Joining Santa's insurgency, wishing one and all a Ho-Ho-Holy War, we made up carols to sing, such as "O Taliban, O Taliban," "Little Bomber Boy," and "Infidels!" (sung to Jingle Bells).
The first Santacon was held in San Francisco in 1994. An invention of the San Francisco Cacophony Society, it's intended to be a celebration of the holiday season that is non-commercial, with added sparks of pranksterism, guerrilla street theater, and public drunkenness.
Since then, Santacon has spread from its San Francisco birthplace and is now celebrated in over a dozen U.S. cities (and more cities around the world) each year. It has come to be known by a few other names as well, including Santarchy, Santa Rampages, and the Red Menace.
You can read more about Santacon on Wikipedia. Or, you can just go look at my photos from yesterday's 11th annual San Francisco Santacon.
Santacon? How to describe it... Imagine a couple thousand folks hitting the streets in various Christmas-themed regalia, most of them dressed as some version of Santa Claus, to drink alcohol, wreak havoc, create mayhem, cause friendly disturbances, and basically be naughty (in the nicest of ways) while they ho-ho-hop from bar to bar (with a few pit-stops in between for free booze, merry-making, and revelry). Then imagine all that fake fur getting soaked with rain while the rabble-rousers get increasingly merry. Then crank up the noise level you're imagining by a factor of seven or so.Imagine buses full of Santas, streets and sidewalks clogged with Santas, restaurants feeding hungry Santas and bars stuffed so full of Santas that all movement, aside from the lifting of drinks to mouths and the jiggling of jolly belly-laughter, is impossible.
That's sorta what Santacon in San Francisco is like. But it's a lot more fun - even in the rain - than it may sound. I braved the wind and rain, donned a Santa hat, and met my friends Nick and Michelle (who were dressed as Osanta bin Laden and Santa's little insurgent) and Suzie Snowflake (dressed, naturally, as a snowflake) for the red and white bar-crawl. Joining Santa's insurgency, wishing one and all a Ho-Ho-Holy War, we made up carols to sing, such as "O Taliban, O Taliban," "Little Bomber Boy," and "Infidels!" (sung to Jingle Bells).
The first Santacon was held in San Francisco in 1994. An invention of the San Francisco Cacophony Society, it's intended to be a celebration of the holiday season that is non-commercial, with added sparks of pranksterism, guerrilla street theater, and public drunkenness.Since then, Santacon has spread from its San Francisco birthplace and is now celebrated in over a dozen U.S. cities (and more cities around the world) each year. It has come to be known by a few other names as well, including Santarchy, Santa Rampages, and the Red Menace.
You can read more about Santacon on Wikipedia. Or, you can just go look at my photos from yesterday's 11th annual San Francisco Santacon.
Comments on "Santacon 2005"
-
TongaLH said ... (December 19, 2005 7:50 AM) :
-
Asinine Army said ... (December 22, 2005 1:39 PM) :
post a commentThat is so freakin' cool! I would looooooooove to bit party to that someday!
Great post. I find it almost poetic that Santa, the living embodiment of commercialized holidays, was used as a way to create a sort of safe social anarchy.
The more I think of Santa as Islamic terrorist idea, that more it cracks me up. We're sort of destroying ourselves, aren't we?