Snowman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For information on the horse, see Snowman (horse). For information on the band, see Snowman (band).
A snowman is a man-like figure constructed from balls of compacted snow. The image of a snowman is popularly connected with Christmas and is embedded in Western culture. Building a snowman is a popular winter recreation for children. There are countless styles of snowmen across different cultures, but all of them follow the same basic principles.
A snowman can be constructed by rolling a large ball of snow for its body. A second (and often a third), smaller ball is placed on top, as its head. Facial features, such as eyes and a mouth, are added using coal, small stones, or buttons. A nose may be added, using a piece of fruit or a vegetable, such as a carrot; sticks are sometimes added as arms. Snowmen are often depicted with a pipe and a hat.
In the United Kingdom, snowmen commonly are built with two balls of snow, whereas in the United States the 'three-ball method,' as shown in the photograph on the right is much more popular.
In Lithuania, a snowman is called "a man without brains." As a sign of protest against their government, in the winter of 2005, Lithuanians made 141 snowmen near their parliament—one for each member of Parliament. Japanese snowmen, or snow daruma (達磨, だるま), usually consist of two, instead of three, snowballs. Twigs are used for arms, pieces of charcoal are used for facial features, and a bucket is used for a hat.
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[edit] In fiction
Frosty the Snowman was a Tin Pan Alley novelty created by Jack Nelson and Steve Rollins in 1950, as a follow-up to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and sold to Gene Autry, who recorded it. The title was taken up for a children's book, illustrated by Corinne Malvern, and published in 1950 by Golden Books. It became a popular children's television cartoon by Rankin & Bass in 1968.
The Snowman, a children's story by British author Raymond Briggs, was the basis for a 1982 animated film by Dianne Jackson.
The comic strip Calvin and Hobbes used a running gag about snowmen (a lot of times Calvin would build ingenious, if hideous and deformed, snowmen creations), and building a snowman is an on-going winter project for both Charlie Brown and Linus Van Pelt in Peanuts.(see articles for details).
[edit] Unicode Character
U+2064 (☃) is listed as "Snowman".
[edit] Examples Of Snowmen
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"The Snow Image" a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne
[edit] See also
- Snow fort -Another snow based construct made by children.
- Abominable Snowman -A human-like creature that supposedly lives in the snow-covered Himalayas.
- Snow sculpture
- Snowman in Cement Industry -A human-like formation at the cooler end of rotary kilns in Cement plants, where the cliker nodules are formed like a snowman hindering the clinker movement to the cooler.
- Scarecrow
