The Moomins’ winter activities are introduced in the comic Moomin’s Winter Follies, written and illustrated by Tove Jansson.

The Moomin family prepares for three months of hibernation, just as their ancestors did. First, they gather hay and then fill their bellies with pine needles, as their ancestors used to do. But then Moominpappa has had enough of following in his ancestors’ footsteps, and the family decides to face the winter head-on. 

At the heart of the story is Mr. Brisk, a super-narcissistic, tormenting busybody from the Great Outdoors Association. He tries to get the Moomin family excited about winter sports, which offer plenty of fun moments, but then Mymble enters the picture and falls head over heels in love with Mr. Brisk.

The story unfolds into a heart-wrenching tale of desperate love, exemplified perfectly by a panel divider in strip no. 31: a heart pierced by a ski pole. After the poor results of the winter games, Mr. Brisk plans to take his own life, but fails. The story ends well; Mr. Brisk travels to the North Pole in the spring, only to return the following winter, but little Mymble stays behind, sitting by a spring stream, washing away the memories of her unhappy love.

Slapstick humor and heart-wrenching emotions are ingeniously combined in the story. In the course of a single strip, Mymble’s hot tears flow as we move from the depths of winter to the time of spring flowers. The deceitful Stinky poisons the atmosphere, which is further enhanced by the use of snakes as panel dividers. The attentive reader notices how Mymble’s infatuation is amplified by her being depicted as floating on a tiny cloud in one frame. 

Moomin’s Winter Follies begins with a thermometer and ends with springtime tree planting as panel dividers. All the visual details in this comic strip only become apparent after reading it several times.

The comic Moomin’s Winter Follies was published in 1955. The Finnish name is Vaarallinen talvi, and the Swedish name is Den farliga vintern.