It's unanimous: 3 out of 3 groundhogs predict it will be an early spring!Balzac Billie (in Balzac, Alberta) , Wiarton Willie (in Ontario) and Shubenacadie Sam (in Nova Scotia) emerged to overcast skies, hence, no shadows to be seen!
To the South of us, USA's Punxsutawney Phil (in Pennsylvania) saw his shadow, predicting 6 more weeks of winter.
History of Groundhog Day: It is based on the European tradition of Hedgehog Day. It was believed that if the sun was shining on Candlemas Day (Feb 2nd) then winter would last another 6 weeks; if cloudy, spring would make an early appearance, as the vernal equinox and the traditional beginning of Spring is 6 weeks after Feb 2nd.
Why the hedgehog? They go back to Roman times, when they believed spring was decided by hedgehogs seeing their shadows at night by the light of the moon.
When Europeans settled in North America (where hedgehogs are not indigenous) the shortage of hedgehogs forced the people to turn to the rodent's cousin, the woodchuck (a.k.a. the groundhog) .
4 comments:
I bet merv the ground hog here is to lazy to open his eyes and won't give an answer unless he got a raise. He probabally thinks we are sexist too by always going with a male groundhog.
Female groundhogs have the pups and raise them, what does the male do? he might as well be put to good use and predict the weather? heehee
Love it... Chicks are so smart.
Someone has to be. ;)
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