One of Siberia's biggest cities, Krasnoyarsk, has launched a 'snow cow' competition, and claims to have put together a fir tree that outdoes the one taking pride of place at Moscow’s Kremlin.

Russians have little in common with the Chinese, but the Chinese zodiac has strongly embedded itself in their New Year traditions. So, each December in Krasnoyarsk, they buy thousands of animals which symbolise the coming year. This time it is a cow.

Residents of Krasnoyarsk seem to be very enthusiastic about the idea of sculpting snow cows in one of the city’s central squares, and everyone is competing to making the biggest and best.

With nigh-on every city square in the country graced by a steel girder fir-tree, it's a matter of civic pride to have the biggest. The one in Krasnoyarsk is the height of a 15-story building. Made out of 30 tons of metal, it is adorned with five kilometres of Christmas lights and 2,000 giant decorations.

A city official says that to have this tree is indeed a matter of honour for the city.

“We traveled the width and breadth of the country looking at other fir trees. We went to Moscow. We studied how they are built. And we decided that in Siberia, in our city, we must have the most magnificent fir tree of them all,” said Aleksandr Bugaev, from the city administration, proudly.

Children and grown-ups are busy making snowmen, and everyone’s dream is to build the one to survive after the end of wintertime. Although this is unlikely, what is clear is that with temperatures almost -20º Celsius they certainly have at least three months more to make another one.