世界聖誕老人大會召開 丹麥提前過聖誕
It's July — and the Christmas tree is lit, bells are jingling and jolly elves are doing "hula-hoops" on stage.
What else could it be but the annual World Santa Claus Congress — filling a Danish amusement park with summer Christmas merriment for the 51st consecutive year.
Five months ahead of the holidays, nearly 140 St. Nicks kicked off their three-day convention Monday at the Bakken park north of Copenhagen. Most were from Scandinavia but some came from as far away as Russia, Japan and the United States.
Visitors lined up to watch the Santas, the Mrs. Clauses and all their little helpers parade through the park, bellowing "Ho-hos" and singing Christmas carols. Other activities included a bicycle parade, "hula-hoop" twirls and a brief swim in Copenhagen's famous harbor.
One of Monday's highlights was the obstacle course, where bearded Kris Kringles raced past a sleigh and up a small hill built of ice before climbing down a fake chimney.
Later this week, they were also to visit children in a nearby hospital, cruise through the Danish capital in a sightseeing boat and hold tounge-in-cheek seminars about the 21st century challenges facing their vocation.
"We have real modern-time problems we need to discuss with our colleagues," said Fred Rootveld, a Dutch Sinterklaas. "How do we get into people's homes when there are no chimneys on the houses to climb down?"
Delegates go by a range of different names — from the French Papa Noel to the Danish Julemand to St. Nick — but the Bakken park said "they are all real Santas."
While that claim could not be confirmed, there's no doubt the festival has become increasingly popular since it was first held in 1957 as a purely local event.
"You really get in the Christmas spirit ahead of time," said Tony Zehavi, spokesman for the event.
七月盛夏，聖誕樹亮起了彩燈，鈴兒響叮噹，快樂的精靈們在舞臺上齊轉呼啦圈。
除了一年一度的世界聖誕老人大會外，沒有什麼能讓丹麥的遊樂園充滿如此喜慶的夏日聖誕氣氛。今年是丹麥連續第51年舉辦世界聖誕老人大會。
近140位聖誕老人於本週一齊聚哥本哈根北部的巴肯公園，參加爲期三天的聖誕老人大會，此時距聖誕節還有五個月的時間。其中大部分聖誕老人來自斯堪的納維亞半島，而另一些則從俄羅斯、日本和美國遠道而來。
聖誕老人、聖誕婆婆帶着精靈小助手們在公園裏盛裝遊行，遊行隊伍唱着聖誕頌歌，不時揚起“呵呵”的爽朗笑聲，引得遊人們排着隊爭相觀看。此外，聖誕老人們還將參加自行車遊行、轉呼啦圈和在哥本哈根著名港口短距離游泳等活動。
本週一的最大熱點是障礙賽，戴着大鬍子的聖誕老人要先跑過一個雪橇，再爬上一座小冰山，然後再從一個假煙囪上爬下來。
本週晚些時候，聖誕老人們還將前往附近一家醫院探訪在那裏住院的孩子們，此後他們將乘坐觀光船遊覽丹麥首都，之後會就聖誕老人職業在21世紀面臨的新挑戰進行一系列趣味研討。
來自荷蘭的聖誕老人弗雷德•魯特費爾德說：“我們將與同行們探討在現代社會遇到的一些現實問題。比如，當人們的住宅沒有煙囪可爬時，我們如何進屋？”
與會代表們的名字五花八門——有法國的“諾爾爸爸”，還有丹麥的Julemand和聖•尼克。但巴肯公園介紹說：“他們都是真正的聖誕老人”。
雖然這一說法無從考證，但這一盛會自1957年推出至今越來越受歡迎，這是毋庸置疑的。當時，這一盛會只是一個地方性的聯歡活動。
該活動發言人託尼•澤阿維說：“你真的能提前感受到聖誕的氣氛。”
