Millennial Twelve Days of Christmas Day 4: Christmas Flash Mobs

Children participate in a Christmas flash mob dance event in the Grotemarkt of Antwerp, Belgium on Thursday, December 23. Image © Virginia Mayo/The Associated Press. Image Source: Guelph Mercury.

Nothing says 'Millennium' like a flash mob and nothing says 'Millennial Christmas' like a Christmas flash mob. Since flash mobs first started appearing in 2003, a result of people's interconnectivity via computers, cell phones and other hand held electronic devices, they became a weird, quasi-spontaneous phenomenon. They've never been seen before in human history. Seven years on, they're now orchestrated public happenings.  They prove that there's still space in our jaded, globalized sensibilities for surprise. Below the jump, here are some of the best recent videos of Christmas flash mobs circulating on the Web.

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob (November 13, 2010). Chorus Niagara, The Welland Seaway Mall, Welland, Ontario, Canada. Video Source: Youtube.

Not quite Heathrow: Lisbon Airport Flash Mob (December 23, 2009). Video Source: Youtube.

Caption for the above photo: "Airport employees (or dancers donning their uniforms), get passengers in the holiday spirit by jumping and jiving at the ticket counters and pulling in surprised travellers."

Connecticut Post Mall, Black Friday (November 26, 2010). Video Source: Youtube.

Caption for the above photo: "On Black Friday, an amazing event occurred at the Westfield Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, CT, to the delight of throngs of holiday shoppers! With everyone being in a shopping mood, a flashmob performance, involving over 130 volunteer performers, interpreted the Redefine Christmas message of charitable giving, and gave surprise charitable donations to 200 random onlookers to give to family and friends as an example of this great message."

Elf Yourself Flash Mob, Union Square, New York City (November 3, 2009). Video Source: Youtube.

Opera Company of Philadelphia Random Act of Culture (October 30, 2010). Macy's Center City Philadelphia. Video Source: Youtube.

Caption for the above video: "On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's 'Random Acts of Culture' at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's 'Messiah' at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers. This event is one of 1,000 'Random Acts of Culture' to be funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation over the next three years. The initiative transports the classical arts out of the concert halls and opera houses and into our communities to enrich our everyday lives. To learn more about this program and view more events, visit http://www.randomactsofculture.org/. The Opera Company thanks Macy's and the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ (http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/) for their partnership, as well as Organ Music Director Peter Conte and Fred Haas, accompanists; OCP Chorus Master Elizabeth Braden, conductor; and Sound Engineer James R. Stemke. For a complete list of participating choirs and more information, visit http://www.operaphila.org/RAC. This event was planned to coincide with the first day of National Opera Week."