While the vision of ‘snow angels’ makes one think of Christmas, it didn’t start out that way. Most people, myself included, probably think that the act of lying down in fresh powder to make angels by sliding your arms and legs back and forth in the snow has been around forever. In reality though, its history doesn’t go back that far. The first recorded account of the term ‘snow angel(s)’ is less than a century old.
It was the winter of 1914-15. World War I had just started. Count Conrad von Hoetzendorf, General of the Austro-Hungarian army (ally to the German forces) has decided to mount an offensive against the Russians along the Carpathian Mountains. His hope was that he could invade before the Russian army could mount a defense. A victory such as this would raise his stock in the eyes of the German Army, who at the time were busy with their own offensive against France.
Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Grand Duke Nikolai (uncle of Tsar Nicholas II) was in charge of the Russian defensive. In the subsequent winter war, Russia suffered over 190,000 casualties, but managed to drive Conrad von Hoetzendorf back past the Dukla Pass and gain control of the prime route into the Hungarian plains.
The first written notation of ‘Snow Angels’ spoke of the brave Russian army who fought and died to protect their homeland in this fearlessly fought winter war. Many of the dead and wounded were found with snow pushed out away from their bodies (in the struggle to grasp life’s last thread) in much the same manner that we do today when we make ‘snow angels’.
Now that you’ve heard the account – it’s up to you to decide. How much of this is fact and how much is fiction? Until next time, stay out of the yellow snow! J/W
