It's cold, it's grey and getting darker, it's damp today but will be wetter tomorrow, even the pigeons are thinking Woking might be warmer. How do you keep feeding people to the commercial machine?
You attract them with shiny lights! (also repetitive, well-known tunes and sweet-sticky smells both of which take us back to infancy)
Look at how much support there is for this, it's for the common good that people come and spend their moneys, buy their trinkets, keep the machine working. Each part of the machine has contributed and woe betide anyone who says they can't afford to sponsor it this year.
I'm making some of this up, and I'm on the cynical side. I don't really know, but this is how you start to understand things, having a glimpse, taking a punt on what it means, being proved wrong, taking a better punt.