Congratulations and thanks to everyone who entered a wonderful snowman and to all the people who voted too... hurray! The song might be old but snowmen are much older. I was in the bookstore Christmas shopping and literally bumped into this book: The History of the Snowman by Bob Eckstein. If you know someone who loves snowmen this would make a great gift for around $10. The author relates the history of snowmen with humor and includes cartoons and over 200 superb illustrations!
One thing I learned:
Not every large snowman dies a quiet, slow death. Each year in Zurich, the Swiss celebrate Sechseläuten by using large amounts of explosives to blow up an innocent snowman. Always on the third Monday in April, bakers, butchers, blacksmiths, and other tradesmen parade on horses and throw bread and sausages to the crowds. In return for free meat, girls decorate the riders with garlands made of spring flowers. Sechseläuten (which means "six bells ringing") comes from the tradition that, at six o'clock, the guild members put down their tools and call it a day. Meanwhile, the Boogg is schlepped through town. The Boogg is a large, cotton-wool snowman with a corncob pipe, button nose, and two eyes made out of coal -- he looks the same every year because the same guy has been making the Boogg for over thirty-five years. Unfortunately for Mr. Boogg, he's filled with firecrackers and plopped onto a forty-foot pile of very flammable scrap wood. For him, things will only get worse. After the bells of the Church of St. Peter have chimed six times, representing the passing of winter, the townspeople light the pile and watch the carnage. It is believed the shorter the combustion, the hotter and longer the summer will be. When the head of the snowman explodes to smithereens, winter is considered officially over. Copyright © 2007 by Bob Eckstein
And I always wondered how they got those holes in their cheese! Ahhh. Well, thanks again. Happy Ha Ha Ha and Ho Ho Ho!