Normally, out here in Phoenix, wishing to cling to the cool season as long as possible, I root for the redoubtable Phil to see his shadow. But the winter has reportedly been so bitter back east that I must hope that my friends & family back there get a bit of an early thaw.
Okay, I'm not some holier-than-thou-take-away-your-fun-puffy-stuffy-grumpus (well, not all day every day.) But I have always hated the idea of Groundhog Day. (No, I liked the movie.) It would be amusing to read that somebody actually believed this at one time, but to continue every goddam year with this hype and holler...
ReplyDeleteIt embarasses me each year that I live in Pennsylvania.
I don't know if anyone ever took the ritual seriously as a belief, but I think I once heard that EATING THE GROUNDHOG after he made his prediction was once part of it (regardless of the predicition, poor guy). I can't find any info on this online, though apparently the observance is thought to derive from the ancient pagan late winter/early spring festival of Imbolc, & also the later Christian feast of Candlemas.
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