Snow penis no more after rough handling by police

[angelophile]

New Windsor - Down on Quassaick Avenue, around the corner from the New Windsor Elementary School, a 6-foot tall, anatomically correct, finely detailed penis raised some questions Monday.

"We got some calls that people thought it was offensive," said New Windsor police Chief Michael Biasotti. "We assumed it was some kids who did it."

Officers found no one home. Assuming the snow sculpture was more prank than nod to Christmas' pagan roots, the police beat it down with shovels.



But Jessica Sherer says phallic displays were central to Viking winter solstice celebrations of fertility and rebirth and that phallic rituals were as much a part of the Hopi Indian winter festivals as the Hawk dance.

"We came back around 11 in the morning, and it was just a pile of snow," recalled Sherer, 19. "Just some shovel marks."

Sherer erected the statue with her boyfriend and another friend Sunday. She said she was surprised to hear some neighbors took offense.

The last two nights of freezing weather has made the snow too stiff to sculpt, said Sherer. But she intends to rebuild.

"In a couple of days, Thursday or Friday, after it gets a little warmer," she promises.

Police and town officials aren't sure what their move will be.

Biasotti worries the display might give others ideas. "Now we're going to get snow penises popping up all over town," he said.

Many scholars, of course, trace the origin of the modern-day yule log to ancient pagan totems to virility and sun-god worship. Is that what Sherer was going for?

"We just did it because we were really bored, and we thought it'd be funny," she said. "It was huge."

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/12/14/sn.html