I Love Edinburgh

Edinburgh, which is Mr. Shakes’ hometown, is just nuts at the holidays. Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) is a celebration of just outrageous proportions, with no fewer than 100,000 people (and sometimes many more) pouring into the town from all over the world to join in the madness. And it’s not just partying and drinking and fireworks—it’s also sports, concerts, carnivals, and an art festival, among many other strange and sundry events.

Christmas isn’t nearly as spectacular an event, but they have their own brand of quirky celebration for that, too—including the running of the Santas, which was organized in support of the charitable foundation Wish Upon a Star.


More than 1,500 running Father Christmases took part in the Great Scottish Santa Run in Edinburgh…

[Event organiser Margaret Rowarth said:] "The atmosphere has just been electric and everyone has had an amazing time. We've managed to triple the size of the event this year, so who knows what we might manage to do next year."

But Edinburgh still has some ground to make up if it wants to set the record for the most Santas in one place at one time.

The current record is held by the city of Bralanda, Sweden, when 2,685 Santas paraded through the streets.
The Santa Run jumped from 400 participants to over 1,500 this year. Something tells me Edinburgh will kick Bralanda’s red veloured butt in no time.

Edinburgh is what the phrase “Happy Holidays” is all about. It’s not about a war on Christmas, or “taking the Christ out of Christmas,” or any of that ridiculous nonsense. It’s about acknowledging the entire season, which is for many people—religious and not, Christian and not—a time of joy and celebration and fun. It’s extremely unlikely that every participant in Edinburgh’s 1,500-strong running of the Santas is a Christian, or even religious at all, but they all did it for a charity that grants wishes to dying children. Sure, for lots of people Jesus is “the reason for the season,” but for others, maybe it’s just a time to do something good for someone else—and that’s worth celebrating, too.


Santa blows. In a good way.

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