The classic winter tradition of a snowball fight that we have today dates back in time. Even though we can't pinpoint exactly when people started doing this, old records and drawings suggest that playing with snowballs for fun is something people have done for a very long time.
One of the earliest stories we have about a snowball fight is from a guy named Marcus Tullius Cicero, who was a Roman speaker. He talked about a snowball fight that happened in 54 B.C., showing that people in ancient Rome used to throw snowballs at each other just for fun.
As time went on, snowball fights became a popular thing to do in Europe during the Middle Ages. A famous painter named Pieter Bruegel the Elder showed this in a painting he made in 1560 called "Children's Games." In the painting, you can see kids having a snowball fight, which tells us that this was a common thing back then.
Snowball fights weren't just for kids. Grown-ups would join in too, and sometimes they would even have big snowball fights with a lot of people, and they'd get really into it. There are stories and paintings that show adults enjoying snowball fights.
There are even stories about soldiers in the past having snowball fights to have fun and feel close to each other. For example, during the American Civil War, soldiers would have snowball fights to relax and bond with their fellow soldiers.
All of these stories and paintings show us that snowball fights have been a way for people to have fun, come together, and sometimes pretend to fight with each other for a very long time. It's a tradition that has lasted through the centuries.
The classic winter tradition of a snowball fight that we have today dates back in time. According to The History Channel website, “On a cold night in Boston in 1770, angry colonists pelted a lone British sentry with snowballs. The rest is history.”