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Groundhog Day - again! |
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| Groundhog
at San Diego Zoo |
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The
early settlers in Pennsylvania
decided
that if the sun shone on Candlemas Day then a wise animal such as
the groundhog would see its own shadow and hurry back to its burrow
for another six weeks of winter.
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This weekend
Candlemas will be celebrated in churches across Wiltshire.
According to the saying: If Candlemas be fair and bright, Winter will
have another flight; If Candlemas brings cloud and rain, Winter is
gone and won’t come again.
The implication is that if the 2nd February is a fine day then winter
will return. But if it is a wet day, then winter will be at an end.
To wave goodbye to winter at the beginning of February, particularly
in Wiltshire, seems foolhardy to say the least and there is no evidence
to back it up.
Interestingly, the Americans have a similar piece of weather lore
on the same day, tied up with Groundhog Day.
This is familiar to many of us from the 1993 movie of the same name,
starring Bill Murray and Andie McDowell.
Tradition has it that the early German settlers in Pennsylvania thought
the groundhog to be a particularly sensitive and intelligent creature.
They decided that if the sun shone on Candlemas Day then a wise animal
such as the groundhog would see its own shadow and hurry back to its
burrow for another six weeks of winter.
The event has taken place in the quaintly named Gobbler’s Knob, Punxsutawney
for over a century.
Since the film appeared with Bill Murray playing a weatherman doomed
to relive Groundhog Day over and over, interest in the event has exploded.
Crowds now exceed 30,000 and the groundhog itself, Punxsutawney Phil,
has even appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
As the big day approaches then you can keep up with the latest developments
on the Groundhog website.
You can be amongst the first to find out about Pete’s prognostications!
Richard Angwin
BBC West Weatherman
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Groundhog
Day on February 2nd, is a popular tradition in the United
States
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