Holiday Countdown

Day 8: Sports

Author: Laurel Lamb, Curator of Education and Engagement

Bundle up because we’re exploring winter sports today!

First off, I’m impressed with the sheer variety of sports people have created that take place in the snow. Have a favorite non-winter sport? There’s probably a winter version, like…

Snow golf

Take a close look at this painting. Aert van der Neer’s 1655 “IJsvermaak buiten de stadswal,” or “Scene on the ice outside the town walls,” features a crowd of people playing golf on ice!

Snow volleyball

Ice bowling

 To finish, here’s a few objects from the Museum’s collections that relate to winter sports:

Skiing

This image of a person riding a ski lift at Sun Valley, Idaho comes from a collection of Keystone View Company stereographs “Scenic America” series. The company was established in 1892 and became one of the largest producers of stereographs. In 1932, the company expanded into stereoscopic eye-testing and eye-training equipment. This series is featured elsewhere in the Holiday Countdown series.

There are many different forms of the sport, such as cross-country skiing, alpine skiing,  acroski, snowkiting, and skijoring.

Sledding

Another Keystone Viewing Company stereograph image is depicted here. It’s titled “A Dog Team in the Land of the Arctic City, Alaska.”

And this candy dish, featuring Santa Claus hunkered down in a sleigh.

Curling

This chunk of rock is granite. It was collected near Little Rock, Arkansas in 1931 by A.W. Giles. Why bring it up, you might wonder? Well, curling stones used in curling are made of granite. However, granite for the sport in particular only comes from one or two places in the world, Ailsa Craig in Scotland being one of them.

Snowball fight

Take a close look at the girl in blue to the left on the plate below. Can you see what’s in her hand?

Snowball fights aren’t a real sport, right? Wrong! Yukigassen (雪合戦) is a snowball fighting competition originating from Japan. The International Alliance of sports Yukigassen’s official website describes the thrill of the sport: “The rush of landing a direct hit – and the heartbreak of taking one!” Established in 2013, this competitive community holds tournaments and events around the world.

Image References:

• Aert van der Neer. Scene on the ice outside the town walls. 1655. Wikimedia Commons.
• Ralf Roletschek. Norský hráč curlingu Martin Sesaker na prvních zimních olympijských hrách mládeže v roce 2012 v Innsbrucku. 2012. Wikimedia Commons.