We’ve all heard of Frosty — the beloved magical snowman who came to life one day with a corncob pipe and a button nose, but what you may not know is that Jimmy Durante’s famous Frosty wasn’t the first. After the song’s release in 1950, an animated short was created four years later in its honor — it later evolved into the iteration we now watch every December.
Early Sightings
The first known documentation of a snowman was found within an illustration from a book that was published in 1380. On the flip side, the earliest known photo of a real (and by real, we mean, not an illustration of course) snowman was in 1853, when Mary Dillwyn decided to snap a candid moment. The photo can now be found in The National Library of Wales in the UK, and it showcases a scene similar to one we’d reenact today — featuring a couple simultaneously shoveling and building.
Around the (Snow)Globe
In 19th century France, amidst the cultural tensions, several soldiers came together in an artistic effort to assert their voice and built a 9-foot-tall snow woman. They named her “La Resistance” and she became a gleaming beacon for their journey towards independence. Japan is known for its record-breaking snowman feats. In 2003, on the heels of a world record, the people of Sapporo built more than 12,000 snowmen — outnumbering their town’s population! Speaking of records, the world’s largest snowman, appropriately named Olympia, was constructed in Bethel, Maine in 2008, standing at a cool 122 feet tall.
There’s No Wrong Way?
While you might think the colder, the better, frigid temps can actually have the adverse effect. To make the ideal snowman (or woman) there must be a certain level of humidity in the air in order to act as a coagulant when shaping the spheres. Either just below or just above freezing makes for optimal building. From there, it’s all carrot noses, sticks, and old scarves.
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