Читать книгу Let It Snow. Keeping Canada's Winter Sports Alive онлайн

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Canadians have no choice. They embrace the frigid winters as something that makes them unique. Blinding snow, extreme windchill, freezing rain, and blizzards are hazards they tolerate every year, something that is foreign to the majority of other countries. A Canadian traveller would be at a loss if someone checked into the same hostel and was from Iceland. They would feel somewhat emasculated.

Horse racing on a frozen river.

American comedic writer Dave Barry famously wrote: “The problem with winter sports is that — follow me closely here — they generally take place in winter.” Canadians, however, embrace winter sports because for far too many months there simply is no other choice.

Of course, a Canadian could declare a disaffection with the season and many do by fleeing south during its harsher months, but in so doing there’s a sneaking suspicion that they must be less than a “real Canadian.” Winter culture surrounds Canadians, telling them that hockey, snowmobiling, and ice fishing are their activities. Basketball may have been created by a Canadian, but being a basketball fan does not make you a Canadian. Basketball is now too connected with American culture to qualify as Canadian.