Strolling through the neighborhood, I saw a lone snowman or a snowwoman depending on your view of things.
The Lone Snowman or Snowwoman
Mr. Snowman looks good in a snowman-kind of way. He has a small maple leaf for a nose, two twig arms, and gray stone eyes which have fallen to the ground. So I think warmer weather is in our future.
I still like the good effort that went in to the building of Mr. Snowman.
History of Snowmen
Building snowmen goes back a long way in history.
Snow is a free medium for snow artists and building snowmen is a cross between self-expression and folk art.
Early postcards had pictures of snowmen, which are still popular on winter holiday cards.
Over the years, a variety of snowmen starred in both scary and kid-friendly movies and cartoons.
I’ve never really counted all the snowman movies which have been made over the years but there has been many. It goes from “Frosty” to “Frozen” and even the abominable snow monster which looks to be a version of a snowman.
Snowmen Guards & the Schenectady Massacre
Back in 1690, the Dutch Settlement of Schenectady, in Northern NY, was left with the gates frozen open during a brutal blizzard.
The guards of the fort decided to build two snowmen and dress them up as guards to “protect” the gate and left their posts. This, however, did not fool the 210 French Canadian soldiers and Native Americans who came upon the open gate of the fort and attacked.
This became known as the Schenectady Massacre of 1690 where 60 people lost their lives.
Zurich’s Exploding Snowman – Sechselauten
Since 1818, the town’s people of Zurich, Switzerland celebrates the beginning of spring with the blowing up of a snowman effulge.
This celebration is usually held on the third Monday in April and is known as Sechselauten with Boogg as the snowman figure. Sechselauten literally translates to, “the six o’clock ringing bells”.
The celebration is a nod to the start of the season with more light non-working hours for the everyday worker.
In recent times the snowman figure, which I read in one article, is actually made of cotton not snow. Boogg is paraded throughout the streets and then placed on a pile of wood to be burned. The pile of wood is lite after the bells ring six times.
Some type of explosives or firecrackers are placed in the snowman’s head which will cause it to explode in a grand finale gesture.
How quickly the snowman’s head explodes is said to be an indication of the summer’s weather conditions.
In 2020, it was the first time in over 100 years that the celebration was not held in Zurich due the COVID-19 pandemic.
Giant SnowWoman
So, now we go back to February 29, 2008, when a town ceremony was held to honor a giant snowwoman which was built in the town of Bethel, Maine.
In looking at some the old video footage on the project, it was amazing project. Dump trucks full of snow and cranes built the gigantic snowperson.
It took a lot of team work, a strong base, and a snow-can-do attitude to build the 122 foot, plus one inch, tall snowwoman who was named Olympia.
In all, it took one month and 13 million pounds of snow to build her. She was just shorter than NYC’s Statue of Liberty. I guess it was was sad when warmer weather melted the huge snow project.
Ending Comments on Snowman and Snowwoman blog
Snowman or snowwoman, snowy facts and figures, so it is hard to end today’s blog.
But when the snow falls, be sure to keep building those cute figures.
Online Readers Digest, Wikipedia, and Nightmare on Film Street were used to research today’s blog topic.