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On February 18, Snowman Day is celebrated throughout the world – known to each of us a sculpture consisting of several snow balls and having carrots instead of nose, embers instead of buttons and an eye, an old bucket instead of a headdress and a branch instead of hands.
There are no special traditions for celebrating this celebration. Alone consider it their duty to organize modeling competitions with friends snow women, for others it’s enough to make at least one snowman, still others send children outside for this purpose, but Enjoy the winter holiday in the warmth of the house.
A bit of snowman history
The first written mention of snowmen appeared in Germany in late eighteenth century. The Germans called this sculpture “Schneemann”, that is, “Bigfoot.” First snowmen are by no means were friendly and harmless good people as they are portrayed today in children’s books and postcards. “Snow people” at that time were tall monsters of snow and ice that had a very fierce look and was not built by children, but exclusively by adults. This is not surprising, since before almost all the statues personified powerful supernatural powers. Snowmen, for example, were a symbol of the harsh and merciless winter.
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In those days in Europe there were many beliefs regarding snowmen. For example, sculpting such a sculpture on the full moon was considered very dangerous. To the one who violates this prohibition, a snowman molded by him will begin to appear in nightmares and bring great misfortune. Also after sunset it was forbidden to look at the snowmen through the window, even through drawn curtains. Snowmen could not be sculpted in cemeteries, in places where the death penalty was carried out, and near churches.
It was only in the mid-nineteenth century that the attitude towards snowmen in radically changed. Now they began to be considered the helpers of good spirits and harbingers of happiness. There was a legend according to which Snowmen are the incarnations of angels. If while sculpting a snowman mentally repeat your innermost desire, then it is indispensable will come true as soon as the snow figure melts. According to another superstition, a snowman protects the home from encroachment intruders.
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By the way, unchanging carrots, embers and a bucket are nonrandom attributes. Carrots symbolize fertility, a bucket and coal – wealth and heat in the house, respectively.
Snowmen in Russia
In Russia, snowmen have been sculpted since Vedic times, that is, long before the Christianization of the Slavs. The Russian snowmen were female, and They called them snow women. Our ancestors were convinced that such sculptures divert a blizzard, a blizzard and other bad weather.
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Later they began to believe that Santa Claus commanded snow women, and the more these sculptures are molded, the stronger the fairy-tale character can affect people’s lives. It is noteworthy that in Russia, in contrast from Europe, the snow woman has always been a character exclusively positive.
Snowman Horror
In their influence on humans, snowmen are very similar to scarecrows, mannequins and big dolls. Psychologists say that any thing having human outlines and dimensions, but not human which causes us subconscious hostility and even apprehension.
For this reason, literature and horror films have long appeared characters like living snowmen. However there is truly frightening cases that actually happened.
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For example, in February 1993, a lonely elderly American from Appleton began to pester local police, claiming that a snowman molded by a neighbor’s children wanders at night near her at home. In the end, law enforcement officers went to a pensioner and examined the snowman, even separated his head from him and attached then back. Snow sculpture did not show signs of life.
The woman did not stop her calls, and representatives of the law again visited her – this time to warn of responsibility for false calls. However imagine the cops surprise when they noticed that the snowman was already in a different place. Pensioner continued to assure that the revived statue wanders in the dark days in her yard and even tries to open a locked entrance Door.
Guardians of law and order from sin broke the unfortunate away the sculpture, however, the woman called that evening and said that the snowman appeared again. The police wrote off everything as a joke to the neighbors women, but the American herself did not even doubt that a snow figure comes to life at night and wants to get to it.
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It is not known how this story would end if it were not for the thaw came and the notorious snowman did not melt. Pensioner By the way, after that I moved to live south, where there is no snow, which means and snowmen, ”all this mysticism frightened her so much.
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In the title photo – the largest snowman in the world “Olympia SnowWoman “, built in the American city of Bethel. Its height was 37 meters, with the hands of a snowman are trees, and an artificial carrot for his nose was delivered on a large the truck. The construction of this snow sculpture lasted two weeks using the latest technology.
Time Life Sculptures Snow
