Father Christmas flash mob jollies up Trafalgar Square on Saturday

Santacon 2011: Christmas cheer and free flowing beer

Hordes of Santas of all shapes and sizes took over Trafalgar Square on Saturday in honour of “Santacon”. We hit the festive fun to find out more.

Santacon is a Father Christmas flash mob where Santa revellers go ballistic running around giving gifts and singing Christmas carols to make sure you know that Christmas is around the corner.

Santacon describes itself as “a non-profit, non-political, non-religious and non-sensical celebration of Christmas cheer, goodwill, and fun. It is not a membership organisation just an annual event which organically occurs every year in London and is created by whoever wants to take part.”

Few beer bottles down, the Father Christmas lingo starts kicking in – Everything is ‘santastic’, the ‘X-mas factor rules’ and ‘I’ll Ho for beer’ are a few examples.

Ask these Santas a few questions and these are the answers you’d get:

Who’s in charge? “Santa!”

What organization are you with? “Santa.”

How did you get here? “A sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.”

Where are you going next? “I’m only allowed to tell you if you wear this hat and buy me a beer.”