The Beginnings
It is doubtful that Fred Harris, class of 1911, could have predicted the impact of his winter 1909 letter to the editor of The Dartmouth, suggesting the creation of a "meet or field day."
In Harris' vision, the event would allow College students "to enjoy the outdoors in a Hanover winter, relax, and have fun after the turmoil of the first semester and exams." The first Carnival was held in 1910, just two months after the publication of his letter.
The event, which used to be known as the "Mardi Gras of the North," made Dartmouth a nationally-recognized party institution on several occasions. Past years have seen eight-mile traffic on the roads leading to campus, CBS television coverage and Winter Carnival committees forced to send "uninvitation letters" to avoid massive floods of random guests.
A commonly-cited Carnival story is that of F. Scott Fitzgerald's experience in 1939. He journeyed to campus to film a "Winter Carnival" movie based on his novel of the same title. Fitzgerald ended up passing out in at least one fraternity basement. Both Alpha Delta fraternity and Psi Upsilon fraternity claim to have been his hosts.
The Traditions That Live On
Intercollegiate competition has always been an important part of the festivities. Originally, Dartmouth students faced off against other schools in Alpine and Nordic skiing, ice-skating, hockey, snowshoe racing, the ski jump and basketball.
Contemporary Carnivals still feature intercollegiate action, with skiing, basketball and hockey remaining major attractions.
Winter Carnival has traditionally featured major artistic productions, originally showcasing the annual performance of the Dartmouth Players, supplemented with appearances by the Glee Club, various jazz bands and guest groups from other universities.
More recently, the major Winter Carnival performance has been the Winter WhingDing show, held at the Hopkins Center, and featuring performances by campus acapella groups and guest bands.
Although athletic and musical aspects of the Carnival continue to thrive, the most recognizable feature of the weekend remains the construction of the snow sculpture on the Green.
The sculpture debuted in 1925, when a medieval castle was constructed to fit with the first officially themed Carnival, Jutenheim Iskarneval -- a reference to the Scandinavian carnivals that influenced Dartmouth's celebration.
Some notable sculptures have included Kwanapukwa, a giant Indian pointing his bow towards the sky, a "flaming-animal" that breathed an eigh-foot long propane flame, a figure of the Grinch sitting on top of a giant ice keg and a giant whale lying flat in the middle of the green.
The whale's open mouth inspired at least one student to see the construction as more than a sculpture.
"Once, a buddy of mine was walking across the green one night, and had to take a dump." Bob Marchant '57 said. "So he decided to take a dump inside the whale's mouth. Little kids saw him and started throwing snowballs."
Although the plentiful snow in 1987 permitted the construction of a Guinness-record breaking 47.5-foot snowman, in other years, sculpture organizers have been frustrated by less than ideal weather conditions.
Snowless winters have previously inspired bonfires in place of a sculpture and pickets with signs pleading for snow, while the extreme low temperatures of 1993 nearly prevented the construction of the snow sculpture.
...Le(s)t The Old Traditions Fail...
Although today only one centrally-placed sculpture is present during the festivities, individual fraternities and residence halls used to each construct their own masterpiece for a campus-wide competition.
Sculptures were judged on creativity as well as craft. The 1947 "sculpture of a sculptor sculpting a sculpture" earned the residents of Butterfield Hall a keg of beer.
Another now-defunct Carnival tradition is the "Outdoor Evening," an event hosted by the Occom Pond at the climax of the weekend, and featuring fireworks, ice-skating, artistic performances and the election of the Queen of the Snow.
Candidates for the title of the Queen of the Snow were usually dates of the fraternity brothers brought in from all-female schools in the surrounding areas.
"At the time of the Carnival, you might not have had a date since Christmas, and boy you would blow your steam when you saw those girls," Marchant said.
In some years, fraternity brothers moved out of their houses for Carnival, allowing their dates to use their beds during their time at the College.
The "Grand Winter Ball," a formal event that evolved throughout the history of the Carnival, is similarly absent in contemporary times.
The event started as a memorable formal event of the year and then turned into a costume party, but was finally given up for fraternity parties.
"I never went to [the formal] anyways," Marchant said. "I preferred to drink and party."
New Traditions
Although many old Carnival traditions have now been discontinued, students have developed plenty of modern events to fill the gaps.
In the 1980s, the brothers of Psi U pioneered a popular event known as "keg jump." In this competition, jumpers lined up on ice skates on Psi U's frozen lawn and jumped over as many kegs as they thought that they could -- although many overestimated their capability.
Brendan Mitchell '92 broke his collar bone in his brave leap over 13 kegs -- a Carnival record established in 1992. Mitchell told The Dartmouth that the record was not worth the injury.
The keg jump, sponsored by the brothers of Psi U, was forbidden by the College in 2000 because of the event's lack of insurance coverage.
"Yes, the keg jump was dangerous. Much like a football game, or alpine skiing, or jumping into a hole in the ice," Mitchell said. "All three of those examples were, and still are, College-sponsored events."
"I think it's a shame that anyone feels compelled to protect college students from themselves," he added.
Another modern tradition, the polar bear swim, endures today. The event attracts hundreds of students, who test themselves by braving the freezing waters of Occom Pond.
Economics Professor Jonathan Skinner encourages his students to participate in the event.
"I expect they'll remember the shock of the cold water longer than they'll remember the content of my class," he said.
Skinner also reminds every polar-bear-wannabe on campus not to forget warm shoes to the swim.
"I also remember the first year we did the swim, I didn't bring warm shoes, and it was slushy, so my feet were numb," he said. "I went to a meeting right after the swim, and one of the faculty at this meeting pointed to my shoes and asked me 'Why are your shoes on the wrong feet?' -- they were so numb I hadn't even noticed."
Another recent addition to the Carnival tradition is the human dog sled race, where both speed and costumes are judged.
This event was first held in 1998 and continues to be a popular attraction.
A contemporary student favorite is 99-cent day at the Dartmouth Skiway, when many Dartmouth skiers hit the slopes to take advantage of low lift ticket prices.
This year's Carnival also saw the institution of the Mr. and Ms. Big Green competition, an event organized by Student Assembly.
