Old Man Winter is a

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their b ...

winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...

. The name is a

colloquialism Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...

for the winter season derived from ancient

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

and

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

beliefs evolving into modern characters in both

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

and

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

.AccuWeather: Winter tales and myths: Where did Old Man Winter, Jack Frost come from?
/ref> He is usually depicted as an old man, most commonly blowing winter over the landscape with his breath, or simply freezing the landscape with his very presence.

History

Humans have associated the winter season with

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

since the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

god of winter Boreas, the Norse god of winter

Ullr In Norse mythology, Ullr (Old Norse: ) is a god associated with archery. Although literary attestations of Ullr are sparse, evidence including relatively ancient place-name evidence from Scandinavia suggests that he was a major god in earlier G ...

and continuing on in other cultures including

Celtic mythology Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed a ...

with the goddess

Cailleach In Gaelic (Irish, Scottish and Manx) myth, the Cailleach (, ) is a divine hag and ancestor, associated with the creation of the landscape and with the weather, especially storms and winter. The word literally means 'old woman, hag', and is foun ...

and goddess Beira. Over time, the old gods of winter changed to new humanizations of the seasons, including Old Man Winter. However, some cultures had a character clearly named "Old Man Winter", where the name was not a shorthand for some other god or spirit. Among the

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

people of the Western

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

region, there exists a myth about Old Man Winter, called Pondese in their language. Old Man Winter was a character in

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

legends.

Popular culture

There are countless references to this personification of winter throughout literature, music, games, cultural events and even in advertising.

Literature

* Nancy Wood, an American author and poet, included a poem titled "Old Man Winter" in her 1974 collection of poetry and prose called Many Winters * Mabel Powers, an American author, suffragist and feminist, known for collecting and disseminating Native American folklore, included a story titled "How Old Man Winter Was Driven Back" in an anthology of Iroquois stories. * J. Walter Brain, , penned a poem entitled "Old Man Winter".

Advertising

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

used Old Man Winter in a 1941 ad campaign, touting "Old Man Winter... We like his snow to play in, but it's not all fun... travel above those dark, low-hanging clouds..." * The Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company used Old Man Winter in a World War 2 era ad campaign promoting their new storm windows. The campaign was launched in conjunction with the US Government in an effort to keep domestic fuel consumption low and conserve it for the war effort. "Keep Old Man Winter Out... Keep Warm With Storm Windows!" the ads read.

Sports and games

* The Old Man Winter Bike Rally and Run is held in February every year in

Lyons, Colorado The Town of Lyons is a Statutory Town in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 2033 at the 2010 United States Census, up from 1585 at the 2000 United States Census. Lyons is located at the confluence of North St. Vr ...

. * A thoroughbred race horse, born in 2017 and owned by James S. Acquilano, was named Old Man Winter.

Music

* There is a two part

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

octavo called Old Man Winter, written by Lois Brownsey and Marti Lunn Lantz.

Food and drink

* Ribstone Creek Brewery, located in

Edgerton, Alberta Edgerton is a village in central Alberta, Canada. it is located east of Wainwright, Alberta, Wainwright. The village has the name of H. H. Edgerton, an official of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Demographics In the 2021 Canadian census, 202 ...

, Canada, brews a

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...

by the name of Old Man Winter. This beer won a silver medal in the porter category in the 2020 Canadian Brewing Awards. *

Southern Tier Brewing Company Southern Tier Brewing Company is a craft brewing company in Lakewood, NY, in the southwestern section of NY state known as the Southern Tier. History The company was founded in 2001 by Phineas DeMink and Allen "Skip" Yahn. They purchased old equi ...

, which originated in

Lakewood, New York Lakewood is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 2,993 at the 2020 census. The village is in the northern part of the town of Busti. Geography Lakewood is located at (42.100929, -79.321919), at the south e ...

, USA and now has locations in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio, brews an

ale Ale is a Type of beer, type of beer brewed using a Warm fermentation, warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typicall ...

called Old Man Winter. * Cape Cod Beer, located in

Hyannis, Massachusetts Hyannis is the largest of the seven villages in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area at the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer t ...

, brews an

old ale Old ale is a form of strong ale. The term is commonly applied to dark, malty beers in England, generally above 5% ABV, and also to dark ales of any strength in Australia. It is sometimes associated with ''stock ale'' or, archaically, ''keeping ale ...

by the name of Old Man Winter.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Old Man Winter Personifications of weather Winter in culture Winter traditions Jack Frost