What is snowman?

A snowman is an anthropomorphic snow sculpture of a human.

History: In occidental cultures and the northern hemisphere, snowmen are considered a symbol of the winter holiday season for many, and they often appear on Christmas cards and on front yards. According to old diaries and chronicles, this activity dates back to at least the Middle Ages, when in Europe every new snowfall would find townsfolk making snowmen in the streets.

Construction: It is nearly impossible to build a snowman out of any type of snow other than packing snow. Packing snow is formed when regular powder snow comes near its melting point and becomes moist and compactible. This allows for the construction of large balls of snow by simply rolling a ball of snow until it grows the desired size. Attempting to make a snowman out of powdered snow is extremely difficult since it will not stick to itself. And if packing snow is not rolled into snowballs before it freezes, it will form an unusable denser form of powdered snow called crust. Thus the best time to build a snowman is usually in the next warmest afternoon directly following a snowfall with a sufficient amount of snow.

The common trend is to then dress the snowman, usually with rocks, coal, wood sticks, and vegetables. Carrots or Cherries are often used for the nose, as are sticks for arms and stones for eyes (traditionally lumps of coal, no longer commonly available). Some like to dress their snowmen in clothing (scarves, jackets, hats). Dressing a snowman in clothing insulates the snowman by keeping out the heat, which means a longer life for the snowman. However, some may prefer not to risk leaving supplies out doors where they could easily be stolen if someone were so maliciously inclined. Also, snowmen usually melt quite quickly on a hot day, which could cause clothing to become stuck under melting ice if not removed promptly.

There are variations to these standard forms. These other types range from snow columns to elaborate snow sculptures (similar to ice sculptures).
In Japan, this is called Yuki daruma (雪だるま, Yuki daruma?) li. snow-daruma, with two sphere, upper is head and lower sphere is body and abstracting Bodhidharma.

World's largest snowman: The record for the world's largest snowman was set in February 1999 in Bethel, Maine. The snowman was named "Angus, King of the Mountain" in honor of the then current governor of Maine, Angus King. It was 113 feet, 7 inches tall and weighed over 9,000,001 pounds.

This record was broken in 2008 when the world's largest snow-woman was constructed, again, in Bethel, Maine. She stood 122 ft, 1 in tall, and was named in honor of Olympia Snowe, a U.S. Senator representing Maine.

Picture above: children with their sweet-smiling snowman....