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With the facade of a colossal ice palace looming over them, hundreds of revellers gather in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to watch the sport of ‘blanket tossing’ – just one of the many spectacles on offer as part of the city’s Winter Carnival. Held regularly since the late 19th century, the carnival was founded in response to a quip from a New York journalist in 1885 that Saint Paul was “another Siberia, unfit for human habitation”. Eager to change perceptions, disgruntled locals arranged a monthlong celebration featuring snowy activities such as bobsledding and curling. Blanket tossing had actually originated in North America several hundred years previously, enabling indigenous hunters to get a better view of their terrain.