And snow women too! A conversation with the good old snowman about his dark past, the successful image change – and why he is not afraid of the future
Mr. Schneemann, it’s colder in many places these days, and snow is also expected to fall at lower altitudes over the course of the week. Good prospects on the day of the snowman, right?
Absolutely. I’m probably one of the few who gets a warm heart at the prospect of cold feet.
Am I wrong, or is there a bit of bitterness in your words?
Does that surprise you? The changes of the last few years have caught me quite cold.
What happened?
On the one hand, I hear from a lot of children that they would love to build a snowman, but as soon as it’s cold enough, the big whining starts and most people leave the house – if at all – only grumpy.
Well, if someone curses the sub-zero temperatures with hunched shoulders, I always say: “Fortunately it’s really cold again.” And I would absolutely love to build a snowman!
Really? It’s good to be missed too.
Especially since you weren’t always so popular…
Oh god, the old stories! You mean that with the harsh winters 400 years ago?
It is said that in earlier times you were the personification of winter. Dark and grim, no friend of humans.
At that time I was young and impetuous, really cool, I liked to portray myself as a roughneck. And of course, these pictures stuck with me swinging a mighty rod with an evil eye… Whereas the beautiful snow figure that Michelangelo created back in the 1490s is rarely mentioned.
Which certainly has something to do with the fact that snow is not marble.
But it could also be related to the fact that people tend to be forgetful. Even if it’s yesterday’s snow: you mustn’t forget the countless children’s eyes that we, as snowmen, have made light up over the last 200 years. We snowmen are pretty popular these days.
How did you manage the image change?
It also played into our hands that at some point the winters were no longer so long and full of deprivation. Well-heated houses, storage cellars and last but not least: the invention of the Muhlbuhtz in the 1980s.
Muhlbuhtz?
Well, these fluffy winter boots with which the children frolic through the snow.
Ah, you mean moon boots?
What’s their name? The kids always call them Muhlbuhtz. What do snow boots have to do with the moon?
No idea, but the question goes well with the many others that are circulating on the net.
What do you ask about the snowman on the Internet?
Sometimes quite critical. Like why it’s called snowman and not snowwoman?
Where did you get that? Klugscheißer.de?
No, that was there in a search window and was meant to be funny, I think…
Haha, rarely laughed like that! Reminds me of that British art historian who made such a fuss 20 years ago that I was white, sexist and a sign of outdated masculinity! What was her name again?
I assume you mean Tricia Cusack?
I agree! I still get chills when I think about how cold she was when she showed us snowmen. So much for machos and misogynists! “Let’s be a little more imaginative,” she said on the radio at the time, “how about a snow woman?” Pah! It wasn’t just the carrot that fell out of my face back then. Of course, children have always built snow women and snow children so that we snowmen are not so alone! A problem was and is being talked up that does not exist at all in our snow creature community.
snow creature community?
That’s what we call ourselves today. We’ve always been diverse, and while we’re all made of frozen water, no two snowmen are alike, no two snowwomen are ever the same. We are big and small, some of us are made of dirty snow, some of us are made of the purest snow you can imagine. I’m also incredibly grateful to Cornelius and Karen for not getting tired of showing how varied and refreshing the snow creature scene is.
Cornelius and Karen?
Cornelius Grätz from Reutlingen not only brought World Snowman Day to life, he also held the world record for a long time with his snowman collection. But in 2013 he was replaced by Karen Schmidt. She lives in the USA and already had a collection with more than 5100 snowmen. Both super cool! I like to think of them both, especially in these times when we snow creatures really don’t have it that easy…
You mean global warming?
her too. But I’m mainly talking about funny videos that we’re circulating on the internet. Saw one a few days ago where you can watch a grown man building a snowman.
I don’t find it that funny…
Me, yes! Every child can build a snowman, we don’t need instructional videos for that!
Above all, we need snow, and that has become rare in some areas…
But we in our community are already looking for alternatives. I recently saw a snowman made out of vegetables. That was strange at first glance, on the other hand, research is being carried out into plant-based alternatives in many areas.
But, with all due respect, is that still a snowman?
Of course, I still prefer snowmen made of snow, but on the other hand, we snow creatures are also part of the eternal cycle of growth and decay. We too are always changing. We are built – and when we’re melted, we rise back up into the atmosphere as drops of water.
Now my heart is warm…
But before you melt away completely: May I tell you what gives me hope?
Yes, please!
As long as flakes are still falling from the sky somewhere in this world, we will have snowmen. And snow women too!
Interview: Boris Halva
