Ah…. Groundhog Day, that unique “celebration” that reminds us that winter weather is short-timing now. I’m going to reprise last year’s essay on this fun day by just re-posting the story. Enjoy:
This is Groundhog Day, did you remember? This whimsical celebration has been carried out for 120+ years now and has become a harmless way to take a moment to lighten up and look forward to Spring, which is bound to come anyway.
February 2nd has been the Christian feast day known as Candlemas since the very early days of the Catholic church and was based on the even-older Mosaic tradition of the Fortieth Day. It is also deliberately timed to occur at the midpoint between the Winter Solstice (first day of Winter) and the Vernal Equinox (first day of Spring).
The multitude of German immigrants who populated the bulk of Pennsylvania brought the Candlemas celebration with them to the New World and in the 1880′s a hunting club in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, held a groundhog hunt every Candlemas.
In 1887 the editor of the local newspaper, who was a member of the club, promoted the hunt and announced that their ancient tradition of using rodents (badgers were used in Europe) to predict the coming of Spring would be practiced in Punxsutawney with their own pet groundhog. And the rest, as they say, is history. According to tradition, if a groundhog peeps out from his burrow following his winter hibernation and sees his shadow, then there will be six more weeks of winter weather. A dull or overcast day preventing his shadow from being cast will announce the coming of an early Spring.
If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter won’t come again.
This year’s sunrise in western Pennsylvania is around 7:14 am. I’ll update this report as soon as Phil takes his look around. The last time that he saw his shadow was in 1999.
Update:
Sorry, Folks. For the first time in 11 years, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning. It looks like we have six more weeks of winter.
We’d better get this equipment checked out now. I’m going to get some more coffee started. We’ll meet back in the day room in a little while.
Also on FireGeezer…
- Morning Lineup – February 2 – February 2, 2011
- Morning Lineup – February 2 – February 2, 2012
