More than 200 partiers dressed like Saint Nick gathered in Los Angeles to do some pretty unsaintly things in the name of Santacon. It's a spontaneous, rollicking piece of performance art that, depending on who you ask, is known as Santacon (for "Santa Convention"), Santarchy (think anarchy), or Santa Rampage.

The fun-loving Santas swarmed Los Angeles subways, sidewalks and bars doing some un-Santa-like things in the name of meaningless fun, the Los Angeles Times reported. Those in costume doled out oddities such as old credit cards and ramen noodles as Christmas gifts to passersby Saturday. They even stopped at bars to have a few drinks. Most onlookers say they were very amused.

Santacon traces its humble beginnings back to 1994, when about a dozen folks from San Francisco's Cacophony Society decided it would be a blast to dress up in Santa suits and raise a little yuletide mayhem. The Santacon phenomenon has now spread internationally.