In 1994, the Cacophony Society staged the world's very first SantaCon in San Francisco. Influenced by the surrealist movement, Discordianism, and other subversive art currents, the Cacophonists decided to celebrate the Yule season in a distinctly anti-commercial manner, by mixing guerilla street theatre, pranksterism, and public intoxication. However, the idea and event has evolved since then, spawning a plethora of different versions of the event all over the world.

Apparently my assessment of "surrealist" when someone first described Santarchy to me last week was right on.