Snowman Burning Day

Nothing may be more representative of holidays, winter, and inclement weather than the snowman—three stacked spheres of powder capped off by an inelegant carrot nose and a dapper hat. According to The History of the Snowman, laboring for an hour to build a snowman burns approximately 238 calories. That's more than dancing and not far from what you'd burn going for a bike ride.

According to snowman scholar Bob Eckstein, who traveled the world searching for obscure mentions of snowmen in ancient documents and later wrote The History of the Snowman, Brussels, Belgium was home to a sprawling installation of perverted snow art in the 16th century. Dubbed the “Miracle of 1511,” Belgians populated public and private land with more than 100 snowmen in various acts of lewd behavior, which the citizens found uproarious. It’s not often great art falls victim to a thaw.

It is said that snowmen melting can predict the weather. The United States isn’t the only country with an odd tradition for predicting the weather. In Zürich, Switzerland, the locals turn to the Böögg, an 11-foot-tall snowman stuffed with straw, cotton—and dynamite. But rather than wait for it to see its shadow, as is the case on Groundhog Day, folks gather in the town square to cheer as it’s engulfed in flames. The belief is that the sooner the Böögg’s head explodes, the closer the townspeople are to spring.