Today’s Film: The Snowman
More of a short than a film, The Snowman is still definitely worth a watch. It is based on the picture book of the same name by Raymond Briggs and uses the same drawing style. The lack of all sound and dialogue except music also calls back to the idea of a picture book. On Christmas Eve a young boy spends the day making a snowman in his garden. That night something magical happens as the snowman comes to life and takes the boy on a spectacular journey to the North Pole. The music is what really sells the atmosphere, and Howard Blake’s “Walking in the Air” is a truly beautiful centrepiece. Fun fact: this song is performed by a St Paul’s Cathedral choirboy, Peter Auty, not Aled Jones, as popularly believed. Also, some re-releases have a beginning narration by David Bowie. The ending is guaranteed to leave you feeling teary with its poignant message of the transitory nature of good moments, Christmas, and, of course, snow.
Today’s Tradition: Lohri; Punjab, India.
Lohri is a midwinter folk and harvest festival that marks the passing of the winter solstice and the end of winter. It is a traditional welcome of longer days and the sun’s journey to the Northern Hemisphere. It is one of the Indian harvest festivals observed on or near Makar Sankranti (in the month of Magha in the Indian calendar) and falls on the night before Maghi (in the month of Magh in the Punjabi calendar) which commonly falls on 13 January every year. It is celebrated primarily in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan and also other regions of northern India such as Duggar and Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
