For those who still believe in Santa Claus, New York finds a way each year to dispel their illusions a little more. On Saturday, December 13, subway cars spilled hundreds of figures onto Broadway in Midtown, wearing synthetic beards, pompom hats and big black boots for the Santa Claus convention (SantaCon). This so-called “convention of Santas” was a charity bar crawl that originated in San Francisco in 1994, following in the footsteps of the Cacophony Society, itself the successor to the Suicide Club, renowned for its pranks and taste for unusual experiences.

In New York, the event mostly became an excuse for intoxication, especially among students in costumes ordered from Amazon. A few older participants stood out thanks to their style, like the couple dressed as Santas in shades of gray, as if they had escaped from an old film. Or the woman in a multicolored fur coat, a tribute to the photographs of British artist Martin Parr (1952-2025), who recently passed away.

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