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Trivia
The purpose of this page is to try and do a theory page on the Snowman. I would love to be able to tell people where the Snowman originated. I have searched the net for three years now and this is what I have come up with. I have found the first use of the word snow was around the year 900 A.D.* Now this is great. I guess in all of the time before that people didn't know what to call it. Oh yes, is was originally spelled snaw, or snau depending which country you where from at the time.
The word snowball came into existence in 1350-1400*. Now that leaves 400 years unaccounted for.
The word Snowman came into
existence between 1820-1830*
Here are a few theories that a few internet friends have suggested.
Carol Daly of Creative Enterprises
(This is her letter almost in entirety)
"Sandy -- Well, I came to just quickly check my email, and found your
message. I didn't intend to answer . . . but I thought, "you know, I never
thought about where the tradition of snowmen started."
Well, then my curiosity got the better of me and I started searching . . . .
now, a couple of hours, 60+ search engine pages and hundreds of web sites
later, I'm sitting here still searching, and I'm still not entirely sure
where snowmen were born! Who knew this was such a tough answer to find?
I'm thinking though, after reading bits and pieces from all the sites I've
been to, that the concept/tradition of building snowmen must have started in
Russia, or one of the Slavic nations. I think that's why you can only find
the "abominable snowman" -- it appears that the word "snowmen" has been used
for a really long time to refer to the abominable snowman, or yeti (Bigfoot)
that one site said have been reportedly seen in the coldest, and most
isolated regions of Russia for more than 2500 years -- thus the name "snow
men" -- they were glimpsed, but never seen up close, and were frequently
covered in snow. If that's the case, perhaps children started building
snowmen in response to the stories of the sightings ????"
Carol also gave me some facinating
links to search out . I would like to thank Carol she was a tremdous help and a
good friend. Please visit her website and see what she has to offer.
I also belong to a Christmas Group on Yahoo called Christmas International. They have also contributed a few ideas here they are.
It's not mentioned in any of my Christmas history books. I
checked a number of online resources and found nothing on the origin of the
snowman.
Snow became intertwined with Christmas only in the 19th century when Santa Claus
was identified as coming from the North Pole. Prior to that, it was a regional
thing with Scandinavians having thoughts of snow in December and people in
Mediterranean areas enjoying balmy weather. In recent years, the snowmen have
shown up on Christmas cards and Christmas decorations. While "Frosty the
Snowman" is thought by some to be a Christmas song, it's just a winter song
similar to "Jingle Bells," "Suzy Snowflake," and "Winter Wonderland." The
Christmas Guy
"They may have been around before the 19th century. That's
when
Christmas was connected, via literature and music, with snow, not
snowmen. However, snowmen may have been around for quite some time
before that. You may check the works of painters of winter scenes.
For example, Dutch artist Pieter Bruegels painted a lot of snow
scenes with active people in the 16th century. You may want to look at his works
to see if the children were making snowmen. You could also contact some art
museums to see if they have any snowmen in old paintings of winter activities. "
Bill
Sandy,
Webster's Collegiate Dictionary dates the origin of the English word "snowman"
at 1827. You might check the Oxford English Dictionary or an Origin of Words
book for more detail or hints on the practice of building snowmen. O.E.D. is
available online, but it is a fee-subscription service (OED.com). Good luck!
~ Suzia
Another theories is Snowman may have come about before or during the cave ages. They may have been false figures to throw off the enemy. Primitive to say the least.
If you have anymore trivia on the snowman please get it to me and I will post it
here with a link to your website. Send it to
artgall@adelphia.net with snowman in
the subject line.
*Information found in the Randomhouse of English Language
