"Santa Clauses" celebrate annual gathering in New York

A large group of people dressed as Santa Clause flooded the streets and subways of New York city (NYC) on Saturday, as they celebrated one of the decade-old Christmas traditions in the Big Apple.

Revellers gather for the start of the Annual SantaCon Bar Crawl at Father Duffy Square, a section of Times Square, on December 14, 2019, in New York. SantCon is an event where people make donations to charitable causes and dress up as a Christmas character and visit bars around the city. [Photo: AFP]

The event, known as NYC SantaCon, kicked off at Father Duffy Square, a section of Times Square at 10 a.m. on Saturday. It is a charitable, non-commercial, non-political, nonsensical Santa Claus convention that happens once a year to spread absurdist joy, according to the event's official website.

This year, hundreds of participants dressed as Santa, elves and in other holiday-themed costumes took part in the festive event. With a donation of 13 U.S. dollars, they would be able to get an admission ticket to participating venues to have drinks and snacks with their fellow "Santa Clauses" and "elves."

About 70 bars located in Times Square, Chelsea, Penn Station, East Village, and Midtown joined the event.

NYC SantaCon is one of over 300 similar events that will take place in more than 40 countries around the world this holiday season, according to the event's official website.