25 Days of Weird Christmas: Day 1

Ahn Young-joon/AP

A very merry South Korean Xmas.

And so it begins.

WATCH IT AND LISTEN

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/culture/detail?entry_id=52655

For some, December 1 marks the beginning of that time of year when family and tradition take precedence over all else; when you pull out that thick reindeer print sweater and sip that sweet eggnog and dream dreams of baby Jesus doing a jig with sugar plum fairies, etc...

But for many of us--dare I say, most of us--the beginning of the holiday season mostly forebodes inevitable cold sweats in crowded department stores as you try to remember if your sister already has a blender, or hearing Bing Crosby warble on six different radio stations, or watching (and re-watching) all those Gap ads, with hyperactive be-scarfed dancers frolicking all over the place. If you're like me, you need an antidote to all the sugary sweetness and corporate manipulation of the mainstream holiday traditions. Well, you're in luck.

Starting today, the SFGate Culture Blog presents: 25 Days of Weird Christmas. We'll be sharing bizarre holiday traditions from around the world, unfortunate Christmas cover albums, forgotten Santa origin stories, tacky and disturbing seasonal gifts and all sorts of other bizarro holiday goodies. It's like an Advent calendar, but instead of waxy and stale chocolate bits, you'll get subversive, unexpected and slightly inappropriate factoids, anecdotes and low-cultural gems.

To start things off, I'd like to share one of my favorite pieces from the great master of dissident Christmas commentary--David Sedaris. From the man who brought you the seminal classic in disgruntled elf literature Santa Land Diaries, here's a piece about Sedaris' journey to the Netherlands where he learns about the Dutch version of Santa Claus--a former minister of Turkey with an entourage of six to eight black men. Click below to hear Sedaris read his essay aloud, it's a worthwhile and very hilarious listen.

December 01 2009 at 01:15 PM