Fifty Words for Snow by Nancy Campbell, our featured Ink in February 2022 transports the reader to pristine places and cultures via the magical medium of this frozen element.
From mountain tops and frozen seas to city parks and desert hills, Nancy digs deep into the meanings of fifty different words for snow from languages around the globe, and the myths that led to their naming. In Japan we discover Yuki-onna - a 'snow woman' who drifts through the frosted land. Icelandic snow falls in flakes called Hundslappadrifa - 'big as a dog's paw'. Whilst in the ancestral lands of the Anishinaberg people, around Lake Superior, we encounter both the Onaabani Giizis and Popogami Giizis, the ‘hard crust on the snow moon’ and the ‘broken snowshoe moon’
Under her gaze, a whole world of myths and stories drifts from each page.
“Sparkles and dazzles with new meanings and old magic. You’ll never see snow in the same way again.” Matt Gaw, author of Under the Stars.
