CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
GROUNDHOGS AND PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL
Don’t be surprised when the neighborhood groundhogs (doesn’t every neighborhood have one, two, three or four?)—thought long gone in the late fall, their burrows far too close to the house, backfilled—suddenly awake, emerge and begin foraging for fuel.
Yes, all the signs are here—it will be an early spring.#
However, the official word on whether it will be an early spring will not be made by the observations of Colin McNickle, journalist, but by Punxsutawney Phil. On Groundhog Day.
(To view illustration click on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beaneryonlineliterarymagazine/2493962362/ )
The sixth century. That’s how far back the roots of the Groundhog Day celebration extend.
Groundhog Day is associated with Christianity’s Candlemas Day, the day that candles used throughout the year are blessed. It is the mid-point of winter, the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.
Groundhog Day as a modern event was inspired by an old Scottish couplet:
If Candlemas Day is bright and clear
There’ll be two winters in the year.**
Later, the Germans started trying to predict how much more winter they could expect based on the hibernation patterns of bears in February. In the 1700s, when the Germans settled in the United States, they switched from bears to groundhogs, for some unknown reason* After all, groundhogs have no interest in how long winter lasts, nor are they any interest in their shadows. Basically, they come out of hibernation for food (by February, hibernating groundhogs have lost up to half their body weight) and sex. **
A clue might be found in the (more…)
