The-Greenman.net

We were once wild. Our human race was full of the desperate energy of the undomesticated. Wild and free. This life was not pretty, we died young, we suffered much, but we gave up so much when we accepted to take on the rules of civilization.

Once a year I take part in an act of wildness. I dress myself up in a costume and do my best to forget the strictures that fence me in each day. (I try my best to escape more often than once a year, but responsibilities do their best to hold onto me.) Once a year I take myself out of myself and take part in what is one of the holiest days in my religious calendar - SantaCon (I tried to grab a few more pics of supersanta and put them in my flickr faves)

I fear the tameness of life in the UK. I think it makes people aggressive. I blame being tame for the antisocial behaviour and the obesity and a large number of the other ills that western nations face. If everything is neat, if everything is safe there are no challenges - we get bored. And the devil makes work for idle hands.

SantaCon (and a few similar events) are a way to create a wild space. With everyone dressed in costume, we both loose and gain an identity. The individuality we loose in a shared disguise is made up for in the freedom we gain from our vast numbers. Our massive gathering gains some kind of immunity from the laws of average, we are able to cross many boundaries, to explore the city in a new way. We can go a little wild.

Nobody who takes part can leave SantaCon untouched. Everyone discovers something new, everyone leaves feeling like they have discovered their life again, if only in a little way. It is so easy to forget who we are, sometimes it takes giving up that identity in order to realise what it is once more.

(The title of this post came from ExplodingDog)