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People dressed as Santa Claus march during a parade in the streets of Porto December 14, 2008. More than fourteen thousand people dressed as Santa Claus marched on Sunday afternoon in downtown Porto, according to the organisers of the event Taleading. [Agencies]
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More than 14,000 people dressed as Santa Clauses paraded in Portugal's city of Porto on Sunday to try to set a new world record for the largest gathering of Santas and raise money for charity.
Despite cold weather and drizzling rain, the crowd in red-and-white hats and jackets, including scores of women and children with fake white beards, strolled through the city streets singing songs and dancing in the annual parade that started in the afternoon and continued after dark.
"It's not just a gathering of people at the time of the year when people normally get together, but it is also a social event to bring the warmth of Christmas to those who don't always have it," Vitor Ferreira, one of the organizers of the event, told reporters.
Every Santa, or Pai Natal (Father Christmas) as he is known in Portugal, who took part in the parade donated 1 euro to buy presents for the needy children in Porto, Portugal's second-largest city, Ferreira said.
He said 17,400 people had signed up to take part, although bad weather prevented some from parading. Still, over 14,200 showed up in the end, which organisers claimed to be record, according to RTP national television channel.
According to the Guinness World Records web site (http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com), the previous world record for the largest gathering of Santas was set last year in Derry City, Northern Ireland, where a total of 12,965 people took part dressed up as Santa or Santa's helpers.
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(Agencies)
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更多圣誕老人故事
上周日，一萬四千多人裝扮成 “圣誕老人”參加在葡萄牙波爾圖市舉行的大游行，此次活動旨在創(chuàng)造規(guī)模最大的圣誕老人集會的世界紀(jì)錄，另一個目的則是為慈善募款。
此次一年一度的圣誕老人游行從當(dāng)天下午開始，一直持續(xù)到傍晚。盡管天氣寒冷，天空飄著細(xì)雨，但穿戴著紅白相間的帽子和衣服的“圣誕老人”們熱情不減，他們沿街而行，載歌載舞，游行隊伍中還有幾十名戴著白色大胡子的婦女和兒童。
活動組織者之一維托?費雷拉在接受記者采訪時說：“這不僅是每年一度的大聚會，更是一個重要的社會活動，它把節(jié)日的溫暖帶給每一個人，尤其是那些窮人。”
費雷拉稱，參與此次游行的每位“圣誕老人（葡語中被稱為Pai Natal）”都捐款1歐元，為波爾圖的貧困兒童購買圣誕禮物。波爾圖為葡萄牙第二大城市。
他說，共有17400人報名參加此次活動，但因天氣原因，一些人沒來參加。盡管如此，據(jù)葡萄牙RTP廣播電視公司報道，最終共有14200人參加了此次活動，組織者稱這一數(shù)字創(chuàng)下了最新紀(jì)錄。
據(jù)吉尼斯世界紀(jì)錄網(wǎng)站(http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com)介紹，此前規(guī)模最大的“圣誕老人”集會紀(jì)錄于去年在北愛爾蘭的德里市誕生，當(dāng)時共有12965人裝扮成圣誕老人或圣誕老人幫手參加了那次游行活動。
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（實習(xí)生許雅寧 英語點津姍姍編輯）
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