A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
090. Santa!
NOVEMBER 2006: Santa!
While Europe is having the dark days before Christmas, Brazil is preparing for a tropical Christmas. In Belo Horizonte, the summer is near. Warm sunny days, with sometimes heavy downpours. It is not such a Christmas climate as it is presented in many Brazilian shopping malls: they prefer to copy wintry American-European style decorations, including winter clothes, snow, and ice, penguins, polar bears, rabbits, bears, and (rein) deer. It is really strange to have the penguins – that live in the southern hemisphere! – integrated in these decorations. Children are prepared for the arrival of Santa Claus. Every shopping mall has organized such arrivals. Some Santas even come by helicopter! In Betim, I witnessed another Santa arriving. Not on his traditional sled, but on a fire engine, accompanied by Christmas girls.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2006, 2014
Adriano Antoine 