Yep, it’s February 2nd, otherwise known as Groundhog Day. And if you believe the rat-looking furry creatures, it looks like we’re in for six more weeks of winter:
During one of the coldiest and snowiest winters on record, Shubenacadie Sam, Nova Scotia’s best-known groundhog, got the weather-prediction wheel moving early Monday. He failed to cast a shadow upon emerging from his burrow, and according to legend that’s a sign that spring is just around the corner.
But within minutes, Sam’s sunny outlook was soon cast aside when Punxsutawney Phil, Pennsylvania’s prognosticator, and Wiarton Willie, Ontario’s weather woodchuck, saw their shadows after squirming out of their burrows.
Seeing a shadow, according to tradition, means six more weeks of winter is on the horizon.
That’s ok with me, as long as “winter” means weather like today, and not weather like the majority of January.
In the meantime, Tom pointed me toward this absurd tidbit about the amusing – though somewhat annoying – 1993 Bill Murray comedy “Groundhog Day”:
Unknown to Fred, and probably to most of the people in snow-bound Punxsutawney, Groundhog Day is now associated in the minds of many spiritual seekers with redemption, rebirth and the process of moving to a higher plane.
It seems Buddhists, Christians, Jews, and a host of other spiritual-seekers are convinced that “Groundhog Day” represents the basic tenets of their respective faiths.
Punxsutawney Phil as Jesus? Hey, why not?
Bill Murray is God!!
Hey — Don’t knock Groundhog Day.
Groundhog Day was a rarity — a true original. I can’t think of anything like it that had ever been made.