Six more weeks of winter: Groundhog Day (2/1)

TODAY, 2/2/23; Xochitl, Pfc. Sandoval, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

This recut of Groundhog Day from Andie MacDowell's perspective is weird (avclub.com)
After many lifetimes, Bill tricked me into marrying him. Be careful what you wish for.

Groundhog Day 2023: Punxsutawney Phil makes his prediction

(TODAY, Feb. 2, 2023) Punxsutawney Phil has officially made his annual Groundhog Day weather prediction. Will we see six more weeks of winter? #Groundhogday #PunxsutawneyPhil #Winter

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Miniature replica of Gobbler's Knob (German knob gobbling?), Punxsutawney (Raunaq Gupta)

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It's that time of year again to suspend disbelief (like at Xmas for Krampus and St. Nick lore) and join in the revelry. In the past Euro Americans used to kill the poor rodent at the center of their witchery and eat it. Now they're nicer and honor him highly as a good vermin weatherman rodent.

Let's murder and eat this varmint for its witchcraft!

(Wiki edited by WQ) Punxsutawney Phil is the name given to a groundhog residing in Young Township near Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (near our Germanic Amish friends), who is the central figure in Punxsutawney's annual Groundhog Day celebration.

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Folklore

We sure love our rats in North America.

On February 2nd each year, Punxsutawney holds a civic festival with music and food [that in the past included slaughtered the groundhog].

During the ceremony, which begins well before the winter sunrise, P-Phil emerges from his temporary home on Gobbler's Knob, located in a rural area about 2 miles (3 km) southeast of Punxsutawney town.

According to German witchcraft tradition, if P-Phil sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter-like weather.

But if P-Phil does not see his shadow, he has predicted an "early spring." Punxsutawney's event is the most famous of many Groundhog Day festivals held in the Euro-invaded United States and Canada.

The event formally began in 1887, although its roots go back even further.

Punxsutawney Phil canon

Ya, das goot, Mein Leibchen. We shall eat it and watch the movie.

The practices and lore of Punxsutawney Phil's predictions are predicated on a light-hearted suspension of disbelief by those involved.

According to the lore, there is only one P-Phil, and all other groundhogs are impostors.

It is claimed that this one groundhog has lived to make weather prognostications since 1886, sustained by drinks of "groundhog punch" or "elixir of life" (Gaelic/Celtic whiskey or uisce beatha) administered at the annual Groundhog Picnic in the fall [6].

The lifespan of other groundhogs in the wild is roughly six years [7].

According to the Groundhog Club, Phil, after the prediction, speaks to the club president in the language of "Groundhogese," which only the current president can understand, and then his prediction is translated and revealed to all in English or German [6].

Talk to me about world peace not groundhogs.

The Groundhog Day celebration is rooted in a Celtic and Germanic tradition that says that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on February 2nd, the pagan holiday of Imbolc (known among Christians as Candlemas), winter and cold weather will last another six weeks.

If no shadow is seen, legend says, spring will come early. In Germany, the tradition evolved into a myth that if the sun came out on Candlemas, a hedgehog would cast its shadow, predicting snow all the way into May [8].

When German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania, they transferred the tradition onto local fauna, replacing hedgehogs with groundhogs. Several other towns in the region hold similar Groundhog Day events. More