Keeping up with the Winter Carnival Yetis
<p>A Yeti gets into a tight spot during the 2013 Winter Carnival Grand Parade. Yetis are frequently spotted causing mischief throughout the winter season in Whitefish.</p>
Anyone who’s been to Whitefish Winter Carnival is familiar with a special breed of monster that’s all our own — the Yeti.
Yetis are known in other parts of the world as Abominable Snowmen, and generally believed to be cousins of apes, trolls and probably Bigfoot.
I’d love to see that family reunion.
The Whitefish Yetis live in the mountains, but come into town once a year. Winter Carnival season is rife with Yeti sightings and shenanigans.
For all the good humor of the Yetis as we know them today, their Carnival counterparts of the past have a rich history that forever links them to the Whitefish community.
According to Carnival lore, a god named Ullr, along with his Queen and Prime Minister, once ruled over all winter events in the Nordic regions of the world. As time passed, Ullr’s subjects became restless and stopping paying attention to the winter festivities.
Ullr, the Queen and the Prime Minister searched for centuries for a new place to rule, and eventually found Big Mountain to be a suitable domain.
But they soon found the mountain was also home to a fierce band of snowmen called Yetis, who attempted to kidnap the Queen. Ullr and his followers prevailed and learned to live with only occasional skirmishes with the Yetis.
As time went on and men settled in the Flathead Valley, Yeti encounters grew more heated. The Yetis were constantly harassing the townspeople in an attempt to drive them away.
Ullr, with help from his Viking subjects, aided the community in subduing the harassments of the Yetis and became a hero, and it was proclaimed that there would be an annual festival at which Ullr and his court would be given the full homage due them.
Carnival today still offers a chance for Yetis to come down from their mountain homes and interfere with festivities in an attempt to assert their right to Big Mountain.
They’ve likely spent the long summer planning the next raid. So as winter approaches, be on the lookout for the Whitefish Yetis (securing a kiss from a Viking is the only way to ensure your safety). These monsters are here to stay.
Entertainment editor Stefanie Thompson can be reached at 758-4439 or ThisWeek@dailyinterlake.com.