Good Excuse For a Party

Unless you've been hibernating, you're probably aware that today is Groundhog Day, the day when crowds in a relatively obscure little Western Pennsylvania town brave freezing temperatures early in the morning to watch a bunch of old overweight guys in fancy suits and top hats pull out a rodent from a hole to declare whether spring's around the corner or winter's sticking for another six weeks.

In case you're wondering who's to blame for this mid-winter tradition that comes every February 2, look no further than the Germans.  They believed that if an animal, specifically a hedgehog, saw its shadow on Candlemas Day, six more weeks of winter was in order.  Quite naturally, when large numbers of Germans emigrated to Pennsylvania, they brought their tradition of an animal weather forecaster with them.  However, they tweaked things for the New World and made the groundhog their animal of choice since Pennsylvania was abundant with the rodent, which the German immigrants felt was intelligent and similar to their European hedgehog.

Returning to the present time when we have doppler radar and advanced technology to forecast the weather, why do we still anxiously await the prediction of Punxsutawney Phil who has an abominable track record of 39% accuracy according to stormfax.com?  If you ask me for my personal opinion, I think people keep the tradition of Groundhog Day alive to take off a day from work, act crazy, and have fun partying.  Let's face it, besides Times Square on New Year's Eve and football games, where else do you see guys going shirtless in the winter and people holding signs saying, "Bring Out the Hog"?  You have to give those Western Pennsylvanians credit for giving everyone a metaphorical ray of sunshine and warmth in the depth of winter.

And by the way, Phil says we have another six more weeks of winter.  Phooey.

Thinking pleasant thoughts of an early spring on the perch.