Father Christmas delivers gifts to Brazilian Amazon communities

It might not be quite the 25th of December yet, but Father Christmas was very busy on Saturday visiting children in communities in the Brazilian Amazon.

Or at least his stand-in was.

In an initiative run by the Santa Claus Friends group, he could be seen travelling along the Negro River to distribute presents to children in rural and riverside communities.

"Every child in any community always smiles back. Wherever we go, it's a smile, it's a great joy," said Father Christmas impersonator, Jorge Alberto Moreira Barrozo.

With water levels low because of the ongoing drought, the group only travelled from the Amazon gateway city of Manaus to nearby Catalão, instead of the usual multiple locations.

But families from nearby communities were invited to come collect their gifts from Santa on smaller boats.

Community leader, Raimunda Ferreira, said it was a huge event for local communities.

"For riverside children, the people of the countryside, there’s not a lot of new things happening,” she said.

“This for us was like a gift from God. Children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, everyone was happy with the presence of Papa Noel and his friends."

And a fun day was had by all as Father Christmas played football and ran races with the children .