Snowman - a simple figure, but history has it certain meaning. Why exactly the snowman, as we know him, accompanies winter and the New Year holidays?

Snowmen were first mentioned in the Book of Hours in the 14th century. In old lithographs from Europe, prepare to be surprised, snowmen are depicted as scary creatures (unfortunately, the lithographs themselves cannot be found). Winter time in the Middle Ages was a real test for the population. Then the snowman was an expression of danger and fear, they were accompanied by bad beliefs. You couldn’t sculpt during the full moon, otherwise you’d have nightmares. In Norway there is a saying that looking at snowmen in the evening from behind a curtain is dangerous. In general, it is not advisable to meet him after sunset.

Fortunately, St. Francis of Assisi intervened in this creepy European story and declared snowmen to be creatures that protect against demons. The explanation was simple: snow is a gift from heaven, which means a snowman is akin to an angel, protects people and can even convey their requests to heaven. To do this, they made little snowmen and whispered wishes to them. After it melts, the wish will definitely come true.

Since then they have been sculpted near houses. Carrots instead of a nose “promised” a generous harvest next year. A bucket on your head means prosperity in the house. And in Romania, garlic beads were hung on snowmen for the health of the household.

Some photos from the first half of the 20th century.

Illustration for the children's book “Die Welt im Kleinen”, 1867.

Fedot Vasilyevich Sychkov "Modeling a snowman", 1910

The name behind the snowman strengthened in the 18th century from the German "schneeman". At the same time, snow women were and are only in Russia. In the rest of the world, a snowman is always male. And in Russia, our ancestors believed that fogs, snows and blizzards were controlled by female spirits. Hence the “snow woman” - a native phenomenon, a female spirit who helps people. The “snow women” were treated with respect and asked to reduce the duration of severe frosts.

Painting by Sergei Glushkov.

Painting by Sergei Sviridov.

Another snow character close to us is Snegurochka. Girl made of snow. We have already found relatives for the Snowman and the Snow Women! The image of the Snow Maiden from folk tale researched by A. N. Afanasyev (“Poetic views of the Slavs on nature”, 1867). The Snow Maiden is an exceptionally kind character to people. This is not an evil winter, but a gentle helper. The image of a revived snow girl is also found in fairy tales of the peoples of the north. But... we are already far from the Snowman.

One of the first images of the Snow Maiden. Painting by Vasnetsov.

By the 18th century, the European snowman had matured. With the beginning technical progress winter no longer brought so many challenges, life became relatively easier. And at the end of the 19th century it acquired its classic form of three snow globes. Here the snowman constantly appears on Christmas cards surrounded by children and is gaining popularity as an attribute New Year's holidays.

Postcards used to congratulate each other in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

And a couple more funny photos.

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According to European legend, snowmen were invented in the 12th century by the knight Giovanni Bernardoni - he and Saint Francis of Assisi. According to the life of the saint, Francis, fighting the demons that tempted him, began to sculpt snowmen and call them his wife and children. In the modeling of a snowman one can guess the prototype of the creation of man, only now the act of creation belongs to man himself.

In addition, snowmen with brooms - weapons - were guards of the home, preventing evil spirits from entering. Also in countries Northern Europe people made snowmen on the eve of Christmas and as traps for demons - evil spirit, who mistakenly took a snowman for a person, moved into a pile of snow and could no longer free himself until spring. Because of this, in Norway snowmen began to be called “white trolls.” There was a legend that you should not look at them late at night from behind the curtain in the window. But in Romania there is a custom to decorate a snowman with “beads” made from garlic heads, since this promotes the health of household members and protects them from vampires, ghouls, and werewolves.
In Rus' they also sculpted snowmen and snow women. Snowmen were revered as the spirits of winter; they, like Frost, were asked for help, mercy and to reduce the duration of cold weather. Perhaps that is why the snowman is given a broom into his “hands” - so that he can calmly fly into the sky whenever he pleases. There is a special story with snowmen. Since in Rus' they once believed that the air was inhabited by heavenly maidens who commanded fogs, clouds, and snow, the pagans organized solemn rituals in their honor. To appease the heavenly inhabitants, they sculpted snow women, as if exalting the heavenly nymphs on earth.

Snowmen received their canonical appearance - a body made of three snow globes, a nose made of carrots, a bucket on the head - only in the 19th century. At the same time, the snow creatures “grew up” and became an indispensable attribute of Christmas and New Year, a kind of symbol winter holidays. But before this, snowmen would hardly have seemed like good creatures to us.
Modern snowman))

Articles like this are born not of inspiration, but of study. And it all starts with the fact that you photograph something about which you want to learn more in the process. But it’s stupid to photograph only what you already know about. It’s much more interesting to look for an object in a stream of pictures and only then (or immediately, if you’re lucky enough to meet an expert nearby) find out more about everything. This is what happened with the old snowman everyone knew from childhood. But how well do you know this snow guy? Same thing.

Oh, what a bigfoot you are!

The story of a snowman.

It would seem that every adult who has ever lived as a child in countries where it snows knows who a snowman is and how to make one. America, Canada, Russia and Norway - everyone sculpted this miracle wherever they walked. But where did the snowman come from? Who invented it? Perhaps these are the remnants of paganism or the fruit of some corporation like Santa in red pants with a white beard? And here the story about the snowman can be divided into ancient and modern, since both options took place.

The first mentions of snowmen.

And then I went online to watch and read. After all, no one talked about this in childhood, and the most that a child needed to know was that a snowman needs to be sculpted when the temperature goes above zero and the snow becomes sticky and the snowman should have three balls: a butt, a very large one, a torso and a head with a carrot instead of a nose. But no one knew who came up with it. Kind of folk epic? No, but more on that below.

In historical lithographs of the 14th century there are already images of a snow heap vaguely reminiscent of a snowman. And some sources say that the snowman was invented by St. Francis of Assisi. If we take into account the fact of how they were created and rewritten historical facts, then here one truth you'll never find it. However, those who are curious can read Bob Eckstein's book "The Snowman's Story". There he studies all the facts and references to snowmen in history. The book is in English.

The first written mention of a snowman is found in the Book of Hours, written in the 14th century, and there are also pictures depicting people rolling large snow globes to create a snowman.

Is he a good snowman or an evil one?

And this way and that. At all times, everything depended on people. But in old lithographs snowmen are depicted as scary, that’s a fact. But after Saint Francis said that snowmen are almost angels, their defenders began to portray them kinder.

Attributes of snowmen.

We all know about the nose, the carrot and the broom. And also a bucket on his head. And the tube is found in the mouth. As for the carrot and the broom, I didn’t find answers to why the snowman has a carrot instead of a nose, but the story about the bucket and pipe is interesting.

A bucket on a snowman's head was invented by Soviet animators. In the cartoon about the postal snowman in 1955. And they started making carrots for the snowman instead of a nose much earlier. Subsequently, the carrot was completely replaced with an icicle.

In those same years, the story of Frost the Snowman appeared in America with the image of a snowman with a pipe in his mouth, as well as a silk hat and a button nose.

However, there are old postcards from the 19th century online where children also make a snowman with a pipe in his mouth. So where the tube came from is also an unclear fact. Coal eyes are found in the descriptions of all snowmen, and this is probably understandable, since previously it was possible to get coal anywhere.

Interesting facts about snowmen.

Everywhere except Rus', the snowman is only male, and in Rus' there was also a Snow Woman.

Snowman Unicode U+2603.

The Saudi imam forbade Muslims from making snowmen because Islam prohibits depicting faces and giving something a soul.

Snowmen in Japan are called Daruma Skirts and consist of two balls. The eyes, as in any Japanese images of faces, are made quite large.

The snowman parade takes place in many countries and they are not connected by any dates.

What a snowman could be like.

It doesn't take much intelligence to make a snowman. It is enough to roll 3 or 2 balls, find twigs for the hands, cones for the eyes and an icicle for the nose. This is the simplest but not the only option. It all depends on your imagination and desire. Here is a small selection of snowmen that I managed to meet on one February day off.

Snow crocodile Gena.

Egyptian sphinx found in Catherine Park in Pushkin near the pyramid.

Why not a snowman? Well, just think, the hare is on the tree)

Snowman dog or West Highland (or Scotch) terrier))

Almost like a Cheburashka.

A bit like the Easter Island idols.

Do you remember when last time made a snowman??

How to always be online when traveling?

How do I save on hotels?

When snow falls in Russia, they appear on the streets and in parks - snowmen. Large and small, with and without brooms - they have long been symbols of the New Year holidays. But how much do we know about the history of snowmen?

According to European legend, snowmen were invented by a knight in the 12th century. Giovanni Bernardoni - aka Saint Francis of Assisi. According to the life of the saint, Francis, struggling with the demons that tempted him, began to sculpt snowmen and call them his wife and children. In the modeling of a snowman one can guess the prototype of the creation of man, only now the act of creation belongs to man himself.

Besides, snowmen with brooms - weapons were guards of the home without letting evil spirits in. Also in the countries of Northern Europe, people made snowmen on the eve of Christmas and as traps for demons - an evil spirit that mistakenly took a snowman for a person moved into a pile of snow and could not free itself until spring. Because of this, in Norway snowmen began to be called “white trolls.” There was a legend that you should not look at them late at night from behind the curtain in the window. But in Romania there is a custom to decorate a snowman with “beads” made from garlic heads, since this promotes the health of household members and protects them from vampires, ghouls, and werewolves.

In Rus' they also sculpted snowmen and snow women. Snowmen were revered as spirits of winter , they, like Frost, were asked for help, mercy and to reduce the duration of the cold weather. Perhaps that is why the snowman is given a broom into his “hands” - so that he can calmly fly into the sky whenever he pleases. There is a special story with snowmen. Since in Rus' they once believed that the air was inhabited by heavenly maidens who commanded fogs, clouds, and snow, the pagans organized solemn rituals in their honor. To appease the heavenly inhabitants, they sculpted snow women, as if exalting the heavenly nymphs on earth.

Your canonical appearance - a body made of three snow globes, a nose made of carrots, a bucket on the head - snowmen received only in the 19th century. At the same time, the snow creatures “grew up” and became an indispensable attribute of Christmas and New Year, a kind of symbol of the winter holidays. But before this, snowmen would hardly have seemed like good creatures to us. This is how they were presented at different times.

The first written mention of a snowman is found in a handwritten Book of Hours created around 1380.

A man makes a snowman. Detail of a fresco from the Palazzo Publico in Siena, Italy. 1390s.

People are making a snowman. Drawing from the Book of Hours, 1465.

Engraving from 1511.

Engraving from the Petits Voyages satin. 1603 note the yellow circle.

Illustration for the fairy tale by G.Kh. Andersen's "Snowman", engraving 1861.

Illustration for the children's book "Die Welt im Kleinen", 1867. This is the first image of a snowman with children. From that moment on, making snowmen became a popular winter activity for children.

A snowman in the classical representation is three snowballs: large (belly), medium (chest) and small (head). Snowman hands are most often made of branches, but there are also sculptures with handles made of snow. Now it seems like an unshakable classic, however, such a standard for snowmen was unofficially adopted only in the 19th century. And before, these were creatures capable of scaring not only a child, but also an adult with their appearance. When sculpting a snow figure, people used all their imagination, embodying their fears and experiences.

The first snowman was Italian

The snowman was first mentioned in a printed publication in the Book of Hours, 14th century, where one could also see an illustration of people rolling snow into large balls. Perhaps to build a snowman?

If you open the book “Dictionaries of Russian Myths and Fairy Tales”, you can read that the Snowman is recognized as the divine father of the Snow Maiden, God the Son of the pagan God the Father - Father Frost and the great Snow Blizzard.

Evil snowmen and the path to kindness

Today, when houses have heating, hot water and other benefits of civilization, Cold winter cannot scare a person. Everything was different before - winter time considered the most difficult to survive. Apparently that’s why snowmen were molded in the form of scary, evil, big size monsters. Perhaps they represented a cold, hard winter.

There were many fears associated with snowmen; for example, it was not recommended to make them during the full moon in order to avoid problems, nightmares, and failures. In northern countries it was not recommended to look at a snowman from the window. If a person was walking at night and came across a snow sculpture, he had to change his path as quickly as possible and try not to look at it.

This situation continued until the 19th century. People became more enlightened; fairy-tale horror stories fascinated them less and less. Snowmen gradually moved into the category of symbols of the New Year and Christmas. Colorful cards appeared with images of snowmen who smiled welcomingly, as if wishing a happy holiday.

Nevertheless, Christians maintained the belief that they are messengers of heaven, angels who help fight demons, and from whom you can ask anything. The main thing is to fashion such an angel from the purest fresh snow, and earnestly ask him to hear and accept the request. And only then, spreading from the advancing heat, it carried it into the sky in the form of a thousand tiny drops.

Snowmen in Russia - you give sexual differentiation!

Snow sculptures of both sexes were treated with respect. It’s not for nothing that the Russian expressions “father frost” and “mother winter” exist. By the way, people often called January “snowman”. The Snow Maiden, this beautiful winter beauty, was also invented in Russia. Perhaps some village Pygmalion made his snowy Galatea and named her that.

Whatever you dress a snowman in is how you will spend the New Year

IN European countries It was customary to place a snowman near the house. The Bigfoot was decorated, dressed, even painted, in general, pleased in every possible way. Nowadays, few people believe that a snowman can influence fate or change the weather. They are made to have fun and have fun. But the mandatory accessories still remain and they are known to everyone. What did they mean before?

A bucket worn instead of a hat symbolized prosperity and financial well-being. We would like that. A broom in snowy hands helped drive away the cold and attract more snow to the ground for the future harvest. Eyes made of coals and other “cosmetics” on a snowy face - so that all sorrows and grievances become a thing of the past. The carrot nose, naturally, personified a prayer for productivity and fertility. Garlic beads warded off demons and added health to those who lived near the snowman.

Snowman craze

Hans Christian Andersen spoke about the life and fate of Bigfoot in the fairy tale “The Snowman.” This sad story. The snowman, whom the children made in the cold, did not experience the joy of snow storms, cold and other delights of winter. He looked out the window and looked longingly at the stove in which the wood was burning. Something stirred in his snowy soul as he looked at the flames and sparkling embers.

And only in the spring, when it became warm, everything became clear. The snowman melted under the rays of the sun, and it became clear why he was so attracted to the fire - there was a poker inside it. She reached for the stove, remembering her favorite job.

IN Soviet times The snowman and the snow woman were the most popular New Year's characters. Postcards with their images were issued, cartoons were filmed and art films with their participation, and the children happily sculpted them out of snow.

Achievements of snowmen

Europe is not far behind: a 16.7-meter-high snowman was erected in Austria, in the mountain resort of Galtür.

Russia is famous for its annual Moscow snow parades. “Snowman Parade” is an opportunity for anyone to show their skills in sculpting snow sculptures.

When the holiday is just around the corner, they are of particular interest. Some will plunge into their past, while for others it will be a real revelation.

When winter comes and fluffy white snowflakes begin to fall from the sky, the world is transformed, becoming like a beautiful fairy tale. And in this winter's tale new heroes appear - snowmen, whom the children noisily and joyfully sculpt, even if there is still just a little snow.

And if the snow has piled up thoroughly, then adults often join in this fun fun. And in almost every yard a snowy figure with a carrot nose appears, wrapped in an old scarf or shawl.

Yes, you probably yourself remember how you rolled large white koloboks out of freshly fallen snow and stacked them on top of each other, trying to make your snowman come out big and beautiful. And hardly anyone wondered where the tradition of making snowmen came from and who they actually are.

It turns out that snowmen appeared quite a long time ago. As the ancient legend says, he made the first snow figure great Italian Michelangelo Buonarroti around 1493.

Historians claim that snow figures were mentioned in writing in the 18th century: in one of the books we're talking about O beautiful snowman gigantic size. The first image of a snowman and the name “schneeman” itself appeared in Germany, in a children's book published in Leipzig.

In the old days, snowmen were considered far from funny and good characters. On the contrary, they were portrayed as huge, evil, ruthless and ferocious monsters. This is not surprising, because it was not so easy for people to survive the winter with bitter frosts and blizzards. Winters brought a lot of troubles and snowmen became a symbol of a real threat, the personification of cold, evil and death itself. ++

Various signs associated with these winter monsters also appeared: for example, they believed that you should not make snowmen on a full moon - disobedience entailed various troubles and failures, and also threatened with obsessive nightmares and fears.

The Norwegians believed that it was very dangerous to look at a snowman from the window when it was already dark outside. Probably, in the ghostly moonlight, the imposing figure standing in the snow really looked creepy.

A chance meeting with a snowman on the road at night also did not bode well, so travelers avoided the snowy figures.

Snowmen could not be made in cemeteries, in places where executions were carried out, and near churches.

But gradually the attitude towards snowmen changed and people stopped seeing them as something scary and evil. In the 19th century, these snow creatures became cute and kind, joining the ranks of Christmas and New Year's characters. Gained great popularity Greeting Cards with cute smiling snowmen surrounded by happy children.

Europeans traditionally refer to snowmen as male, therefore, in pictures and postcards you can often see this creature with purely masculine attributes in the form of a bow tie and a tall hat. "Snowman" is the only word in English language, representing a snowman.

After the snowmen “got older,” their mystical properties also began to be perceived differently. And suddenly the snowmen turned from dark, cold demons into real angels! A belief has emerged that snowmen are able to convey people’s requests and prayers directly to the Lord in heaven. To do this, you had to make a snow figure, quietly whisper your innermost desire to it and wait for spring. The spring sun will melt the heavenly messenger and the desire will ascend to Heaven, and then will certainly come true.

According to another ancient version, Saint Francis of Assisi believed that creating snowmen was one of the ways to fight demons.
In Rus', snowmen have been sculpted since Vedic times, that is, long before the Christianization of the Slavs. Russian snowmen were female, and they were called snow women. Our ancestors were convinced that such sculptures ward off blizzards, blizzards and other bad weather.

Later they began to believe that Santa Claus commands the snowmen, and the more of these sculptures they sculpt, the stronger fairy tale character can influence people's lives. It is noteworthy that in Rus', unlike Europe, the snow woman has always been an exclusively positive character.

A little about traditions

Today, snowmen are an indispensable decoration of the New Year and Christmas holidays. They are molded into different countries, if only there was snow. The snowman's nose is made from a carrot, icicle, pine cone, corn cob or berries (Europe). Eyes can be coals, pebbles, glass, or even ordinary bottle caps and other objects of suitable shape. The mouth can be drawn or laid out from berries, pebbles, finely broken twigs - in general, from anything that is at hand.

They also dress up snowmen in accordance with their imagination: some limit themselves to a traditional bucket, some to an old hat, while others create intricate headdresses from a wide variety of materials and wrap the snowman in scarves, shawls, old clothes and other unnecessary things. You can also paint a snowman with the most ordinary watercolors.

But, like all things that came to us from ancient times, the details of the snowman’s appearance were initially important.

For example, the carrots from which the nose was made could appease the gods of fertility and harvest. A hat in the shape of an inverted bucket promised the family prosperity and wealth, and beads made from garlic heads (Romanian custom) were able to protect the family from diseases and evil forces. All things that were used to sculpt the snowman became his “property” - they were never taken back.

In Europe, snowmen were always made next to houses, lavishly decorated, and given brooms. According to superstition, a snowman protects a home from attacks by intruders. The impressive brooms that were given to snowmen were nothing more than a tool for dispersing gray snow clouds. Snowmen had to take care of good weather.

Unlike European snowmen, which often have legs and are mounted on some hard object, and from Slavic snowmen, consisting of three balls placed on top of each other, Asian snowmen are molded from two parts. One big one snowball becomes the body, and the other, smaller one, becomes the head. The Japanese snowman has a name: Yuki-Daruma, where Yuki means "snowman"

Daruma also has one more difference from the snowmen we are used to - in the center of his large belly, a cave is hollowed out, where a burning candle is placed.

Meaning Daruma snowman easy to figure out. Snow is purity, a sign of purification, a candle is warmth, sincerity; cordial, warm attitude.

For the Japanese, Daruma is a wish-granting deity. To do this, make a wish on his image (a drawing on paper, a figurine) and draw one eye. If within a year the wish is fulfilled, then a second eye is painted on. If the wish is not fulfilled, it is burned. Daruma with one eye should always be in sight ( workplace, shelf at home, etc.).

By the way, did you know that January 18 is World Snowman Day? So you have the opportunity to start new tradition in your family by organizing a festive family sculpting of snowmen and snow women in your yard or somewhere in nature. Add some nice and funny festive events, and finally, let each holiday participant whisper a secret dream to a personal snowman. Who knows, maybe our ancestors were right and snow angels will really help make your wishes come true.

To make the holiday memorable for a long time, you can prepare small souvenirs in the form of snowmen for everyone. What to make it from - think for yourself. If you want your gifts to last for a long time, then make snowman dolls from fabric, yarn, socks, wood and other materials. You can also make edible snowmen from candies, marshmallows, cottage cheese or other goodies. Children will be indescribably delighted with such a surprise.

Popular snowmen

The snowman has long and firmly occupied a place in literature and cinema. In children's fairy tales and cartoons, this character is usually friendly, cheerful and kind.

The most famous fairy tale belongs to the pen of H. H. Andersen and is called: “The Snowman”. In this fairy tale, the yard dog tells the snowman about his life, about people and about the stove where he loved to warm himself when he was a little puppy. From this story, the snowman suddenly develops an inexplicable craving for the stove. It seems to him that something is stirring in him when he watches the stove through the window. Instead of the joy of a snowy and frosty winter, he yearns for an unattainable hot stove.

But spring came and the mystery of the snowman was revealed when he melted under the rays of the sun. It turns out that it was mounted on a large iron poker, for which the stove was close and dear.

There is also a popular German fairy tale"The Brown Snowman's Dream" In this fairy tale main character- chocolate snowman - dreams of seeing snow. The boy takes the snowman outside, and he enjoys the frosty winter day, the sparkling white snow and noisy children's games.

Gradually, white snowflakes cover the chocolate and the snowman thinks that he is becoming as white as the world around him. And the boy, realizing that his friend will never become truly snow-white, still does not dare to disturb the illusory happiness of the little chocolate snowman.

Our kids really fell in love with the snowman from the wonderful old Russian cartoons “The Postman Snowman” and “When the Christmas Trees Light Up,” where this character is Santa Claus’s faithful assistant. On Soviet postcards a snowman was drawn as often as Father Frost or the Snow Maiden.

In our country, unlike Europe and America, snowmen have never been perceived as some kind of evil creatures capable of harming people. But time has changed and foreign cinema gave us an unpleasant surprise in the form of numerous horror films, where the usual kind and sweet characters suddenly became like terrible monsters. This also affected snowmen.

In terms of their influence on humans, snowmen are very similar to scarecrows, mannequins and large dolls. Psychologists assure that any thing that has human outlines and dimensions, but is not a person, causes us to subconsciously dislike and even fear.

For this reason, characters such as animated snowmen have long appeared in literature and horror films. However, there are truly frightening cases that actually happened.

For example, in February 1993, a lonely elderly American woman from Appleton began pestering local police, claiming that a snowman, made by a neighbor's children, was wandering near her house at night. In the end, law enforcement officers went to the pensioner and examined the snowman, even separated his head and then attached it back. The snow sculpture showed no signs of life.

The woman did not stop making calls, and representatives of the law visited her again - this time to warn her about responsibility for false calls. However, imagine the surprise of the policemen when they noticed that the snowman was already standing in a different place. The pensioner continued to claim that the animated statue wanders around her yard at night and even tries to open the locked front door.

Law enforcement officers broke the ill-fated sculpture out of harm's way, but the woman called that same evening and reported that the snowman had appeared again. The police wrote it off as a joke by the woman’s neighbors, but the American woman herself had no doubt that the snowy figure came to life at night and wanted to get to her.

It is unknown how it would have ended this story, if the thaw had not come and the notorious snowman had not melted. The pensioner, by the way, after that moved to live in the south, where there is no snow, and therefore no snowmen - all this mysticism scared her so much.

Of course, such stories can be explained very prosaically, - bad jokes neighbors or mental disorders of the eyewitnesses themselves, but such incidents are easily exaggerated yellow press and filmmakers, causing impressionable people to panic at the slightest provocation.

Record-breaking snowmen

The most interesting figures, figurines and snowman figures are annually included in various record rankings around the world. Some record holders try to surpass their achievements again and again. For example, in the small American town of Bethel in 1999, a four-ton snowman 35 meters high was built, 9 years later local residents tried to increase the record-breaking figure to 6 tons and 37 meters in height.

The tallest snowman in Europe flaunts on the slopes of a ski resort in Austria, in the city of Galtür: its height has reached 16 meters 70 centimeters.

Another record holder was a resident of Anchorage, whose name is Billy Power. Every winter since 2005, Billy has sculpted the famous Snowzilla out of snow, and every year his snow monster gets taller. The giant snow sculptures have already caused controversy when the 7m snowman scared Billy's neighbors because they were afraid that Snowzilla would simply collapse on their property and bury them in tons of snow. Local authorities ordered the removal of the winter symbol, but regular protests by activists advocating for the preservation of the figure continued until Anchorage changed its mayor. Now Power is sculpting Snowzilla with official permission from the authorities.

The case of Billy Power and his Snowzilla is also interesting because it symbolizes the influence of new cultural movements on the shape of snowmen. In addition to him, snowmen in the style of the comic book “Calvin and Hobbes” are very popular in the world, the main character of which was very fond of sculpting strange figures from snow. So now, instead of traditional balls in top hats, buckets and brooms, you can see a mutant snowman with two heads or a snowman lying on the ground, from whose body a tree rises.

On the Internet you can see photographs of snowmen in the image of the most popular hero of the Japanese cartoon “My Neighbor Totoro”.