In January 1863, 9,000 men in the US Confederate Army were reprimanded for an epic snowball fight complete with drums and battle flags. The battle started between the First and Fourth Texans but spread to troops from Arkansas and Georgia. The high command, irritated by the number of minor injuries suffered, issued an order ‘prohibiting general snowballing’.
According to Boston code (16.12.15) it is illegal to throw snowballs, use a bow and arrow or use a catapult.
In 2006 snowball fights were reported as being banned in North Wales after a boy was arrested for pelting a younger child with snowballs (refrozen to make them harder) and breaking three of his teeth. The government health and safety website counts the banning of snowballs as a persistent myth.
Handschuhschneeballwerfer is German slang for ‘coward’. It means someone who wears gloves to throw snowballs.
Francois de Bourbon, Comte d’Enghien (1519-46) was a successful General and a friend of Francis I, King of France. Whilst staying at the Chateau de Roch-Guyon in the winter of 1546, d’Enghien got into a snowball fight which got rather out of hand, forcing him to stop for a rest under a window. Someone threw a linen-chest out of the window, and it landed on his head. He died a few days later, on February 26, aged 26.
650 million years ago, the earth was covered with ice, known as ‘snowball earth’ or ‘slushball earth’.
Yukigassen is a Japanese snowball fighting-competition. It is similar to ‘capture the flag’; players are eliminated when hit with snowballs. Players wear hockey helmets with face shields, and are given a set number of snowballs (90) that are made in advance using a snowball maker.
“The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.” – Doug Larson
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