A week before Christmas 1974, the independent Danish theatre troupe Solvognen staged their production Julemandshæren (the Santa Claus Army) in Copenhagen, an action theatre performance bred in the hippie commune of Christiania in the frisinnede 1 Denmark. Over eight days, Solvognen turned Copenhagen upside down, writing Julemandshæren into Denmark’s cultural canon for all eternity, thanks to its irresistible charm.
Text Morten Jørgensen, novelist Photo screenshots from youtube
Norwegian version
Theatre productions take place in closed rooms, whether the performance is staged indoors or outdoors. The audience is comprised of voyeurs, spectators, flies on the wall. The German playwright Bertolt Brecht, creator of the «The Threepenny Opera»(Die Dreigroschenoper), admittedly maintained that stage plays should tear down «the fourth wall» and draw the audience onto the stage. However, any audience is nevertheless introduced to a reality created by others, a tableau, whether interactive or not.
…roughly one hundred Santas and some thirty angels, as Solvognen turned the city of Copenhagen into one big, spontaneous stage.
In contrast, the essence of Solvognen’s theatre philosophy was to change reality itself. The distinction between actors and audience became fluid, as when thousands of Copenhageners unwittingly one 1974 pre-Christmas morning were recruited as involuntary actors and extras of Julemandshæren, spearheaded by roughly one hundred Santas and some thirty angels, as Solvognen turned the city of Copenhagen into one big, spontaneous stage.
Solvognen (1973-76)
Solvognen, which took its symbolic name from the Trundholm sun chariot 2, also staged several other productions. Because that is what we should call their artistic shenanigans. Three of the most successful:
– The backdrop of their 1973 Wounded Knee-aktionen was the occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in the US from February to May of that year. Two hundred Oglala Lakota (often referred to as Sioux) took control of the Wounded Knee settlement in protest against the US authorities’ treatment of the American First Nations. Solvognen, dressed as Amerindians, were seemingly beaten senseless or even «killed» by «American dragoons» on the streets of Copenhagen to remind the Copenhageners of the three hundred Lakota massacred by the US 7th cavalry at Wounded Knee December 29, 1890.
– In July 1973, NATO-hæren marched in a measured and fully uniformed manner onto the streets of Copenhagen, «armed» with «machine guns» forged by Christiania’s blacksmith. The «soldiers» even built a «machine gun trench» on a city street, complete with barbed wire. The «NATO Army» also «liberated» Danmarks Radio3 from «fake police officers». The army declared itself fully capable of preventing any rebellion by an «inner enemy».
– On July 4, 1976, more than 300 people participated in Rebild-aktionen in the Danish countryside. Bare-chested and wearing Amerindian costumes, between thirty and forty riders appeared at a hilltop, issuing war cries as Queen Margrethe of Denmark, in front of four thousand spectators, delivered a panegyric tribute speech celebrating the 200th anniversary of the United States of America. Under the guise of the «Danish-Icelandic Horse Association», Solvognen had ridden in four small groups to the Rebild valley through the adjacent forest. With arms raised and fists clenched, the display mimicked a John Ford western starring John Wayne. Clashes with a heavy-handed police force ensued – there were «Indians» everywhere in the crowd! Fifty-six Solvognen actors were arrested, while the officers were subsequently investigated for police brutality.
However, here we shall acquaint ourselves with Solvognen’s most famous and notorious production: the December 1974 Santa Claus Army, a prankster happening that granted Solvognen media coverage all around the globe.
Julemandshæren (The Santa Claus Army)
On an early pre-Christmas morning in 1974, an army of Santas and angels arrived in Copenhagen on the Oslo ferry, singing Christmas carols as they marched ashore. For the next eight days, Solvognen was to leave its distinctive mark on Copenhagen, accompanied by a nine-meter-tall Christmas goose on wheels, live pigs, sheep and geese, a tractor, and even a lively bear cub(!). A clarinet played Christmas music, carols were sung, and some Santas were indeed roller-skating. Along the march route, Santas treated the Copenhageners to hot chocolate and candy.
The first few days, everything was just smiles and merry Christmas. The Santas sang to the police in Den Runde Gård at the central Copenhagen police station, they visited nursing homes and hospitals to convey their Christmas spirit to the elderly and hospitalized, as well as dancing cheerfully in school yards with Christmas-festive children.
However, the theatrics soon turned increasingly political. 1974, the unemployment rate in Denmark was rising. Denmark had joined the EU, so a number of corporations were moving their factories to countries like Portugal, where wages were lower. Aghast, the Santas discovered the true state of Danish Yule: not everyone could afford to celebrate Christmas!
Next, the Copenhagen Stock Exchange was occupied by “unemployed Danes”. With no money to buy Christmas presents, the unemployed were unable to take fully part in the merry Christmas celebrations. Expeditiously, the “unemployed activists” were joined by a group of Santas supporting their cause. Unperturbed by any such sentiments, the police came to the Stock Exchange’s rescue.
A delegation of Santas entered one of the major Danish banks to apply for a 50 million DKK loan.
To counter unemployment, the Julemænd climbed the fence of a local General Motors factory and began scrubbing down the closed factory to make it «ready for reopening». Terminated workers started joining the caring Santas. Soon, however, the police appeared even here.
The Santas then directed their anger at Arbejdsretten, the Danish Court of Labour Disputes, renaming it «Class Judiciary», aligning with the Red agenda of the 1968 student rebellion and the spirit of the 70s. At first, a Santa gave a passionate Christmas speech from the platform of a mobile crane, high above the street, whereupon he sprayed smoke down towards his fellow Santas and the already present police. Hammers and sledges in hand, the Santas rushed across the street into the smokescreen, where they began hammering on the walls of the venerable Arbejsretten. Even a pneumatic drill was employed.
On the final day, Monday before Christmas, the Santas changed their tactics completely. A delegation of Santas entered one of the major Danish banks to apply for a 50 million DKK loan4, presumably to distribute the money to the poor and the unemployed.
However, Solvognen’s legendary status was first and foremost established by the Santa incursion into Copenhagen Christmas shopping. On Sunday December 22, 1974, at the far eastern end of the pedestrian street Strøget, forty-eight Santas entered the iconic Magasinet, Copenhagen’s most prominent department store. Inside, they soon found their way to Magasinet’s bookstore, where they began distributing Historien om Solvognen, a colourful book explaining why the Santas had travelled all the way from the North Pole to the Danish capital to spread the Spirit of Christmas.
Julemandshæren has given rise to urban legends, one claiming the Santas handed out toys from Magasinet’s shelves to children, after which the children, tearful and traumatized, were forced to watch handcuffed Santas being escorted out of the department store while singing Christmas carols. That, however, is most likely a myth. Only one single case of a tearful, protesting child was ever recorded, originating from the chaotic scenes outside Arbejdsretten.
Before the police once again appeared, at least some of the department store customers became beneficiaries of Christmas gifts in the form of books from Magasinet’s shelves, including one of Heinrich Böll’s novels. No charges were pressed against Solvognen for shoplifting, as no theft is committed until an item leaves the premises.
Solvognen appeared in Denmark at a time when new forms of political theatre emerged in the Nordic countries. The Solvognen approach aligns closely with the philosophy of another 70s art movement, the Situationist International, an obscure Paris revolutionary organization whose interpretations of Karl Marx were inspired by previous art movements like Dadaism and Surrealism.
The Solvognen fusion of art and politics is typical of the 70s. It has been suggested that the Situationist legacy can be found in contemporary flash mobs as well as subvertising, and in street art by artists like Banksy.
The common denominator for the various stagings is the conscious attempt to change reality itself, not striving to improve or modify the existing reality. By altering reality, people’s perception of reality also changes.
Whether Solvognen’s various artistic interventions deserves to be labelled theatre (art), or activism (politics) is subject to definition, with both alternatives being correct answers to the question.
OBITUARY
In the contemporary Norwegian political and moral – indeed the international – climate, a «Situationist» incursion would be inconceivable. One single tearful child would inevitably lead to accusations against the congenial Santas for ruining Christmas for all children. An army of mobile phone photographers would make the shocking tears go viral. Grave concerns for the plight of innocent animals in their tiny Santa parade cages would be expressed on both Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, especially for the poor little bear cub, generating disgust and anger. Intense and heated debates would spread like wildfire on Facebook. Activists raging against Danes dressing up as «Indians» would appear on Reddit, and the blameless children who unsuspectingly had been exposed to the apparent brutality of the Wounded Knee-aktion would have been met with a wave of online sympathy. Some netizens would undoubtably have demanded greater diversity in the Santa army, while others would have claimed that female Santas should have refrained from spouting white beards. The “NATO army” would swiftly have been arrested by a Danish SWAT-tam, indicted for terrorism, and security guards would surely have prevented any «soldiers» from entering Danmarks Radio.
But more importantly, a real «Situationist» performance would be unfathomable, at least in Norway, due to the contemporary merger of state, politics and culture.
Today, most of Norwegian art and culture is sustained by public funds. Any, if not all, artistic activities are chiefly dependent on meticulous and precise applications to the state apparatus, whether that be national, regional, or municipal agencies or institutions.
Of course, there is still some grass root activism in Norway, but even Amnesty International and other Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) pay their «activists» to recruit members or collect funds on the streets of Oslo. Therefore, it seems unlikely that any art project would be able to recruit over one hundred activists on a voluntary basis for eight days or for as long as it would take to transport them to a fairly remote location like Rebild and back. At least it would be imperative to prevent double booking with one of the major Norwegian music festivals.
The cost would also be an impediment. The nine-meter-tall Christmas goose alone would have cost NOK 200,000 without voluntary efforts5, according to Solvognen’s own estimate. Norway is a small country, and the people’s pockets are not immeasurable.
In addition, the grassroots activists of the 1970s have largely been replaced by professional salarymen and -women, some financed by donations from sponsors in the business community, but most of them funded by the public sector. In addition, NGOs often act as consultative bodies for the Norwegian parliament and other branches of authority, working in a similar fashion as the numerous politically appointed commissions and committees. Thus, most voluntary organizations have their publicly funded computer screens engulfed by preliminary hearings, reports, and various statements directed at the country’s political class. Consequently, the NGO staffers have limited time to organize time-consuming grassroots activism.
Back in the days, funds from e.g. trade unions, membership fees, and fundraising used to be the only source of financing for an NGO, but these days, most NGOs are completely dependent on funds granted by various instances of authority. Additionally, any such funding would require the applicants to fill out the necessary forms accurately and meticulously, as well as secure the necessary permits from the police and other affected bodies of government.
If the private sector was involved, any controversial “Situationist” art project or planned political NGO activism might also be forced to yield to objections from their private donors or corporate sponsors, unless the applicants consider themselves indifferent to future financing of their activities.
Some might suggest that the necessary means could be obtained through crowdfunding or a call for support on social media. However, since Solvognen’s productions always relied on a certain amount of secrecy or at least an element of surprise, crowdfunding or similar measures do not seem particularly realistic.
At this point in time, the unperturbed neo-liberalist development in Western societies indicates that although the adage The times they are a-changing6 is quite popular still, there are no signs on the horizon of a demise of neo-liberalism. Quite the opposite, some may feel inclined to profess.
Due to numerous local references and specific Norwegian connotations of the inconceivable situationist production Hagefesthæren 2025, no translation can be fully comprehended by foreign readers. Non-Norwegian readers are instead encouraged to imagine a Solvognen-inspired production in their own respective countries.
English translation by the author.
1 The uniquely Danish concept of frisind can bebroad-mindedness or liberality. It is an antonym to narrow-mindedness and piety, and reflects the Danish cultural stance against puritanism, as demonstrated by the broad acceptance of pornography and sex work by the general public in Denmark. Frisind is considered a cornerstone of Danish culture.
3 Denmark’s Broadcasting, the state-owned Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company.
4 €6,7 million by 2024 exchange rates.
5 €17 000 by 2024 exchange rates
6 Taken from a Bob Dylan song and single of 1964.
