The History of Groundhog Day
Every year on February 2nd the United States and Canada celebrate Groundhog Day. The belief is, if a groundhog comes out of the ground on this day and fails to see its shadow, it will leave it’s burrow and winter will soon end. If it does see it shadow, it will be frightened and go back into hiding, meaning that there will be six more weeks of winter. Although this is soundly based upon scientific fact, I’ve always wondered who were the great scientists that tested this theory so it could eventually become one of the cornerstones of our seasonal calendar.
Thousands of years ago, give or take a few, the Gaelic and Celtic cultures celebrated four principal festivals, Imbolic being one of them. Scientists in those times realized that the beginning of February falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. They dedicated the day to the goddess Brigid and later the Christians changed it to St. Brigid’s Day.
One of the many traditions of Imbolc was watching to see if the serpents or badgers came from their winter hiding places. Eventually serpents and badgers were removed from the holiday and replaced with the lovable creature, the Groundhog.
Based on these early theories, early Germanic scientists eventually narrowed the date down to February 2nd. They moved to Pennsylvania, USA, to avoid the scientific oppression that was pushed upon them during the War of the Grand Alliance, where French troops, under King Louis XIV, persecuted the Germanic people due to the advanced scientific discoveries.
So every year we not only celebrate Groundhog day to discover if it will be a short or long winter, but also to honor the brave men and women who helped keep science alive in the dark periods of our past. And if you believe any of this nonsense you should make sure to watch the Groundhog Day celebration on TV to see if winter is really coming or not. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy another watching of the great Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day.
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