A snow angel is a design, made in fresh

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

, by lying on one's back and moving one's arms up and down, and one's legs from side to side, to form the shape of an

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

Technique

The creation of the snow angel is a simple process. The first step is to find an undisturbed plane of fresh snow. The next step is to lie with arms and legs outstretched, on the snow. The limbs are then swept back and forth, creating a trough through the snow. When it is finished, the snow angel should have the appearance of a stylized angel, the movement of the arms having formed wings, and that of the legs having formed a gown. Fresh, light, powdery snow makes the best snow angel rather than heavy, sticky snow.

Current world record

On March 28, 2007, Guinness World Records confirmed that

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

holds the world record for the most snow angels made simultaneously in one place. The event occurred on February 17, 2007, when 8,962 snow angels were created by people on the state capitol grounds in Bismarck. Previously, the record was held by

Michigan Technological University Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Uppe ...

with 3,784 students, locals, and alumni making snow angels on the school football field.

Non-human snow angels

Some

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s (e.g.

pheasants Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera's native range is restricted to Euras ...

) leave on the snow a figure similar to a snow angel.

Weddell seal The Weddell seal (''Leptonychotes weddellii'') is a relatively large and abundant Earless seal, true seal with a Subantarctic, circumpolar distribution surrounding Antarctica. The Weddell seal was discovered and named in the 1820s during expediti ...

s often leave outlines of themselves, similar to a snow angel, melted into the ice; additionally, these seals can thumb their nose at the cold, leaving images called ''seal shadows''.

In popular culture

* ''Engler i sneen'' / ''Angels in the Snow''. Norwegian 1989 hit with Jonas Fjeld and Lynni Treekrem. Melody: Jonas Fjeld. Lyrics: Ole Paus, English translation: Eric Anderson.Øyvind Schou (11 May 2012
Fjelds punktum for «Engler i sneen»
'' Drammens Tidende''. Retrieved 18 December 2013 * In an episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' entitled " Skinner's Sense of Snow", Homer Simpson creates a snow angel, that then turns into a snow devil. * In the 1970 film '' Love Story'' one of the characters played by Ali MacGraw, opposite Ryan O'Neal, creates a snow angel whilst larking about in the snow. * In Piglet's Big Movie,

Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by ...

makes a snow angel out of fresh snow. * '' Angel in the Snow'' is an

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

song, released 4 years postmortem on the album ''

New Moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures made of snow or ice Play (activity) Angels in popular culture