Groundhog Day!

Today is Groundhog Day!  This is a strange day of meteorological observance that I enjoy.  It is a day that has many followers, and for those of us that are; we are devoted to the forecast. Despite the mild January, Phil saw his shadow this morning, and said "6 more weeks of winter!" 

As legend (folklore) states:  if it is cloudy when the groundhog emerges from its burrow, it will leave its burrow, signifying that winter weather will come to an early end.  But, if it is sunny, the groundhog will see his shadow and go back into his burrow; allowing winter to continue for six more weeks.

Ever since the movie was released in 1993, I have wanted to visit Punxsutawney, PA, and be one of the crowd of 40,000 gathering on a cold Feb. 2^nd morning to ‘hear the proclamation’ from Phil himself!  This is a tradition that has existed since 1886, and books up neighboring hotels/motels for years in advance.

What a great escapist movie this is.  I had a tradition of watching the movie every Groundhog night for 12 years in a row, until Pam finally said “Enough!”, and I’ve never watched it since . . .  

I love the way the official historian writes the historical record of the day.  Here it is, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do J

“In western countries in the Northern Hemisphere the official first day of Spring is almost seven weeks (46–48 days) after Groundhog Day, on March 20 or March 21. About 1,000 years ago, before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar when the date of the equinox drifted in the Julian calendar, the spring equinox fell on March 16 instead. This is exactly six weeks after February 2.

The custom could have been a folk embodiment of the confusion created by the collision of the two calendrical systems. Some ancient traditions marked the change of season at cross-quarter days such as Imbolc when daylight first makes significant progress against the night. Other traditions held that Spring did not begin until the length of daylight overtook night at the Vernal Equinox.

So, an arbiter, the groundhog, was incorporated as a yearly custom to settle the two traditions. Sometimes Spring begins at Imbolc, and sometimes Winter lasts 6 more weeks until the equinox.”

WOW!