Well, what can one think of in the middle of summer? Ice cold drinks, lonely beaches, surfing, tanning? Not really, as this post is going to be all about snowmen. Snowmen in the middle of summer are a great reminder of the days when one can only survive dressed up in multiple layers. This seems so far away right now; nevertheless, a quick chat on 5 unusual snowmen approaches that can definitely be a sip of fresh cold air.
The most famous snowman nowadays has to be Olaf, from Frozen. But Olaf stands for innocent love, not to mention that fact that he’s one-year old. So let’s take care of the veterans, shall we?
1. The first recorded snowmen
One of the inspirations for this article comes from Bob Eckstein’s book, The history of the snowman. The first recording ever of a snowman comes from an illuminated manuscript dated 1380, that can now be found in the Royal Library at The Hague. The manuscript includes a grotesque cartoon snowman alongside a solemn passage about Jesus Christ. This is par excellence the earliest known drawing of a snowman and it has been interpreted as an anti-Semitic representation of a Jew being melted by fire. Sorry about that!
Moreover, according to Eckstein, the first recorded indecent snowmen and snow-women were created back in 1511, when the residents of Brussels, in a fit of anti-establishment anger, filled the city streets with hundreds of pornographic and political snow sculptures.
As far as Italy is concerned, a heavy snowstorm apparently hit Florence in 1494. The city’s ruler of that time, Giovanni di Lorenzo di Piero de Medici, asked a teenage friend to build a snowman in the palace courtyard. The 18-year-old was forced to create a snow sculpture that observers reckoned as the most beautiful snowman that had ever been made. The young sculptor was none other than Michelangelo.
Eckstein’s book describes a snowman calamity in North America during the 1689–1697 war between England and France. On February 8, 1690, while 25 militiamen were on duty in Schenectady, New York State, protecting 150 civilian inhabitants, the weather was so cold that the village gates had frozen open. But the sentries did not believe anyone could be out and about on such a night and so went off to warm themselves, leaving two rifle-wielding snowmen on guard.
Unfortunately the “snow patrol” didn’t fool a 200- party of French Canadian soldiers and Native Americans, who silently passed through the gates, robbed and burned the village, killing 60 villagers and taking 27 prisoners with them.
3. Snowmen in horror states
Unfortunately, sweet old snowmen have appeared in several horror stories as Yeti. No matter if this means their playing in Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon, featuring a killer Yeti and a football team involved in a plane crash trying to survive in the Himalayas.
Yeti is a Pixar star as well, starring in Monsters Inc. and having John Ratzenberger doing its voice. That’s definitely a cool one.
How about Hugo from The Abominable Snow Rabbit in Chuck Jones’ run of The Looney Tunes? That’s a classical to remember.
And last, but not least, let’s not forget Scooby-Doo and his horror adventures. During their never-ending encounters with all sorts of monsters, Yeti just had to be one of them. The first time was in 1970 in That’s Snow Ghost, and then again in the far more recent, direct-to-video, Chill Out, Scooby Doo.
4. Snowmen in Art
Here are some paintings by US artist Graham Dale. The images speak for themselves J
5. Snowmen in your Back Yard