30 December 2014. From the Russian Web… Christmas in London

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The Mid-Winter Holiday is what it is… what it is, simply put, is a secular holiday. That being so, let it be! There are idiots who attack everything that isn’t “religious”… that’s crackbrained. Enjoy it… there’s precious little enough smiling in life, particularly, in these times of “austerity” and Affluent Effluent attacks on working people. Santa isn’t St Nick… they’re not mutually exclusive. Lighten up… “Happy Holidays”… by the way…

BMD

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Sputnik International Presents… There’s Christmas in the Air!

This past weekend , a traditional pre-Christmas Santa run took place in Tokyo (Tokyo Prefecture. Greater Tokyo Area. Kantō Region) JAPAN. Some 500 Tokyo residents dressed as Santa Claus participated in a 2.5-kilometre charity run at a local park.

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Vitor Martins from São Paulo (São Paulo State. Southeast Region) BRAZIL has more than 90 percent of his body covered in tattoos, some of them in reference to Christmas. However, that doesn’t prevent him from working as Santa Claus.

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One of Berlin’s entertainment agencies hosted an event with a Santa Claus “flying” 98 metres (322 feet) above a hotel in the German capital.

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Metropolitan Cathedral of the Nativity of Saint Mary in Milano (Milano Province. Lombardia Region) ITALY is the fourth-largest in Europe, after St Peter Basilica in the Vatican, St Paul Cathedral in London, and Seville Cathedral. It’s the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world.

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Last weekend, model and television personality Holly Madison dressed as Santa Claus; she appeared at a street performance in Las Vegas (Clark County. Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise MSA) NV USA

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A traditional Christmas parade for four-legged Santas was held in Loughborough (Leicestershire. East Midlands Region) ENGLAND UK.

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In São Paulo (São Paulo State. Southeast Region) BRAZIL, a man wearing a Santa Claus costume rode the metro to celebrate the Christmas season.

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Skiers and snowboarders dressed as Santa Claus participated in a charity race down a slope at the River Ski Resort in Newry (Oxford County) ME USA.

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According to the event organisers, 250 skiing Santas raised some 3,000 USD (165,000 Roubles. 18,670 Renminbi. 190,000 INR. 3,490 CAD. 3,690 AUD. 2,450 Euros. 1,925 UK Pounds) for charity at the event.

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In South Korea, divers dressed in Santa Claus costumes have a tradition of swimming in an aquarium in Seoul before Christmas.

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Santa Claus, also known as St Nicholas or Father Christmas, is a cultural figure with legendary, folkloric, and historic origins. In many Western cultures, Santa Claus is believed to bring presents to the homes of good children the night before Christmas.

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Some 800 participants dressed as Santa Claus took part in the fourth annual Santa Claus running competition in Michendorf (Kreis Potsdam-Mittelmark. Bundesland Brandenburg) GERMANY.

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Generally, depictions of Santa Claus show him as a portly, joyous, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collars and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and a black leather belt and boots. He carries a bag full of gifts for children.

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Local artist Ed Terrel from Reading (Berks County. Philadelphia-Reading-Camden CSA) PA USA created a giant Santa Claus costume. Days before Christmas, the artist put on the costume as he walked through the city streets in the evening.

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11 December 2014

Sputnik International

http://sputniknews.com/photo/20141210/1015698143.html

21 December 2014. Is It St Nick or Santa Claus? Why Not Both?

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I think that to make people “choose” between St Nicholas and Santa is a false opposition. After all, Santa’s a secular figure (as Ded Moroz is), and St Nicholas is a religious figure. There’s NO contradiction between the two whatsoever. If it were up to me, I’d have Santa (or Father Christmas or Papa Noël or whatever else you’d want to call him), St Nick, and Dede… all three! They don’t compete with one another. St Nick comes on St Nicholas Day… Santa comes on Christmas… and Dede comes on the New Year. Hell, I’d even throw in the Three Kings (if I ask kindly enough, perhaps, Julio will bring his stilts for a real Old School Tres Reyes blast) on Epiphany. Don’t go around making false conflicts. If you consider it carefully, and choose wisely, you’d see that you could have ’em all… all in their proper place, of course.

Now, go off and fetch me the jug… that was thirsty work.

BMD

12 November 2014. A View From the East… Spying on Santa (Luo Jie/China Daily)

Spying on Santa

Luo Jie

2013

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Yeah… it’s almost American Christmas season… that is, from American Thanksgiving to Catholic Christmas on 25 December. Unlike trad Christians in the Catholic, Orthodox, and Reformation Churches, Anglo Americans have a holiday season that PRECEDES the holiday (I shit you not). There ain’t no “Twelve Days of Christmas”… there’s four weeks of utter commercialised madness starting with Black Friday (the Black Mass of this “holiday”)… then, Catholic Christmas… and all Anglo Americans collapse in a stupor, glad that the “holiday season” is over for another year. There’s not even a New Year’s celebration of any note! It’s not like the Russian holiday of New Year’s-Christmas-Epiphany… nineteen days of partying hearty and fun (including jumping in an ice hole on Epiphany… no lie, I’ve done it… don’t knock it until you’ve tried it). It has none of the hearty exuberance of “c’était un Noël au Québec” (grand-père has to come and give the family bénédiction for the coming year first)… NOBODY decorates for the season “comme le font les québécois” (must be that Caribou that they drink… half moonshine and half homemade wine). It isn’t the Sicilian midnight feast after Christmas Mass… nor is it the homely joy of an English Christmas Cake… it’s a deadening exercise… so much so that I wonder why they even engage in it.

Keep your wits about you and stay out of the malls from Black Thursday until Catholic Christmas. Then… CELEBRATE… feast, feast, feast, like real men and women and kids should. Pass me the roast beast, please… I WILL take seconds, if you will.

BMD