Jack Frost

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For other uses, see Jack Frost (disambiguation).
19th-century cartoon of Jack Frost as a United States major-general during the American Civil War.

In English folklore, Jack Frost appears as an elfish creature who personifies crisp, cold, winter weather; a variant of Father Winter (also known as "Old Man Winter"). Some[who?] believe this representation originated in Viking folklore.

Tradition holds Jack Frost responsible for leaving frosty crystal patterns on windows on cold mornings (window frost or fern frost).

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[edit] Possible sources and parallels

Proponents[who?] of Jack Frost's Viking folklore roots state that the English language derives the name "Jack Frost" from the Norse character names, Jokul ("icicle") and Frosti ("frost"). Others[who?] see "Jack Frost" as a much more recent import into Anglo-Saxon culture from a Russian fairy tale (see Morozko). In the Finnish epos Kalevala (canto number 30, as translated from Finnish into English by Keith Bosley) Jack Frost appears as the son of Blast, "Pakkanen Puhurin Poika".[1] Other tales in Russia represent frost as Father Frost, a smith who binds water and earth together with heavy chains. Compare the German folklore figure, the old woman Frau Holle, who causes snow by shaking white feathers out of her bed.

[edit] In fiction

[edit] Printed works

  • Cecily Pike wrote a children's nursery-song describing Jack Frost as a "gay little sprite" and beginning with the words "Look out! Look out! Jack Frost is about! He's after your fingers and toes!"
  • In L. Frank Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, Jack Frost is the son of the otherwise unnamed Frost King. He takes pleasure in nipping "scores of noses and ears and toes," but Santa Claus, who likes Jack (who he sees as a "jolly rogue") though he mistrusts him, asks him to spare the children. Jack says he will, if he can resist the temptation.[2] The same Jack appears in The Runaway Shadows, a short story by Baum. In this story, he has the power to freeze shadows, separating them from their owners, making them their own living entities.[3]
  • Laurell K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series has a character who within the context of the book emerges as the original Jack Frost.
  • Neil Gaiman's 'The Graveyard Book' features Jack Frost as a secondary character.
  • Jack Frost appears as a superhero in works published by Timely Comics (now Marvel Comics) in the 1940s. A man covered in ice, he could project ice and cold.
  • Jack Frost forms the alter-ego of Dane McGowan in the comic book series The Invisibles, written by Grant Morrison.
  • Jack Frost appears as a minor character in the books Reaper Man and Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.
  • Jack Frost appears as a major character in Ed McCray's novel Jill Chill and the Baron of Glacier Mountain [1]
  • Jack Frost appears as a major character in The Veil trilogy of novels by Christopher Golden.
  • Jack Frost appears as a mischievous character in a few panels of National Comics' Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #33 (December, 1958).
  • In Jack of Fables the titular character became Jack Frost for a period of time. A second Jack Frost appears as the son of Jack Horner and The Snow Queen.
  • Jack Frost appears as an antagonist in Rainbow Magic books by Daisy Meadows, wanting to freeze Fairyland. He also has loads of pesky goblins to steal the fairies.
  • Jack Frost (잭 프로스트) is an ongoing manga Style manwha series by Jinho Ko.

[edit] Films

[edit] Televised material

  • In Frosty's Winter Wonderland, Jack Frost, jealous of Frosty the Snowman because of all the attention he gets from children, tries to render him lifeless by stealing his magic hat, but eventually has a change of heart when chosen as the best man at Frosty and Crystal's wedding. He reappears in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July.
  • In Jack Frost, a Rankin-Bass Christmas TV special (1979), Jack Frost falls in love with a human girl and seeks to become human. Father Winter grants his wish, but tells him that if he does not have a house, a horse, a bag of gold, and a wife by "the first sign of spring" he will become a sprite again.

[edit] In pop culture

[edit] As a pseudonym

  • Bob Dylan used the name "Jack Frost" as a pseudonym when he produced his 2001 album Love and Theft, as well as his 2006 record, Modern Times and his 2009 effort, Together Through Life.
  • Jack Rosenberg (later known as "Werner Erhard") used the nickname "Jack Frost", while selling cars in Philadelphia in the 1950s[4]
  • Jack Dempsey, the guitarist of the Seven Witches, goes by the pseudonym of "Jack Frost". Apart from his work in Seven Witches he has also released two solo albums, many famous (heavy) metal artists joining him.
  • Championship MGO player Ibrahim Rayyes was previously known as Jack Frost.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ See Finnish Kalevala)
  2. ^ The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum, Part 2, Chapter 2: How Claus Made The First Toy
  3. ^ The Runaway Shadows or A Trick of Jack Frost by L. Frank Baum
  4. ^ Pressman, Steven, Outrageous Betrayal: The dark journey of Werner Erhard from est to exile. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993, page 6. ISBN 0-312-09296-2
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