Jack Frost

Look out! Look out! Jack Frost is about! He's after your fingers and toes!

A rhyme written by Cecily Pike to remind children to wrap up warm when going out to play in cold weather. Jack Frost is an elf like creature who, apart from pinching the fingers and toes of children is also held responsible for tracing beautiful patterns of frost about the landscape, most noticably (to us) on windows.

He is thought to be descended from a Viking character called Jokul Frosti.

When I was a child Jack Frost would trace ice patterns on the inside of my bedroom windows. Central heating and double glazing tends to keep him away from our houses now but outdoor buildings are still susceptable to his icy artwork. And a good thing too.