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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,579 Likes: 13
Top 10 Poster
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OP
Top 10 Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 19,579 Likes: 13 |
Hi Folks,
Happy Ground Hog Day! = )
The movie is one of my favorites and I love any holiday that can exist without political or religious dogma attached to it. Ground Hog day may be the safest of all of them. We need more holidays just for the fun of it in my opinion!
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..." -Brian Austin Whitney "Sometimes all you have to do to inspire humans to greatness is to give them a reason and opportunity to do something great." -Brian Austin Whitney
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 583
Serious Contributor
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Serious Contributor
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 583 |
Hi! I guess he did not see his shadow today. That means spring is just around the corner. Ha! Ya right! We will see... I am finding that hard to believe sitting here quite chilly in my house tonight. I think we are about to hit zero at any moment. I can always wish for a nice spring day. Stay warm ya'll.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,657
Top 100 Poster
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Top 100 Poster
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,657 |
Actually...there is a great deal of history about this day. Here's a quote from Wikipedia:
Around the fifth century, the European Celts believed that animals had certain supernatural powers on special days that were half-way between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.[citation needed] Folklore from Germany and France indicated that when marmots and bears came out of their winter dens too early, they were frightened by their shadow and retreated back inside for four to six weeks.[citation needed] This may have been adopted by the Romans as Hedgehog Day. In Scotland the hedgehog has long been revered for its healing powers (as referenced in Robert Burns' Ode to a Hedgehog).
The earliest known American reference to Groundhog Day can be found at the Historical Society of Berks County in Reading, Pennsylvania. The reference was made Feb. 4, 1841 in Morgantown, Berks County, Pennsylvania storekeeper James Morris' diary: "Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate."
In the U.S. the tradition derives from a Scottish poem:
As the light grows longer The cold grows stronger If Candlemas be fair and bright Winter will have another flight If Candlemas be cloud and rain Winter will be gone and not come again A farmer should on Candlemas day Have half his corn and half his hay On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop You can be sure of a good pea crop This tradition also stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas Day [1] and Hedgehog Day. Candlemas, also known as the Purification of the Virgin or the Presentation, coincides with the earlier pagan observance Imbolc.
In western countries in the Northern Hemisphere the official first day of Spring is about six weeks after Groundhog Day, on March 20 or 21. About 1,000 years ago, before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar when the date of the equinox drifted in the Julian calendar, the spring equinox fell on March 16 instead. This was exactly six weeks after February 2. Assuming that the equinox marked the first day of spring in certain medieval cultures, as it does now in western countries, Groundhog Day occurred exactly six weeks before spring. Therefore, if the groundhog saw his shadow on Groundhog Day there would be six more weeks of winter. If he didn't, there would be 42 more days of winter. In other words, the Groundhog Day tradition may have begun as a bit of folk humor.
Alternatively, the custom could have been a folk embodiment of the confusion created by the collision of two calendrical systems. Some ancient traditions marked the change of season at cross-quarter days such as Imbolc when daylight first makes significant progress against the night. Other traditions held that Spring did not begin until the length of daylight overtook night at the Vernal Equinox. So an arbiter, the groundhog / hedgehog, was incorporated as a yearly custom to settle the two traditions. Sometimes Spring begins at Imbolc, and sometimes Winter lasts 6 more weeks until the Equinox.
For fun....check out groundhog.org
Emily
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 4,001
Top 100 Poster
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Top 100 Poster
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 4,001 |
Just for that, I'm going to watch that movie tonight for the umpteenth time. I have the DVD. :-)
Jody
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"If one man can do it, any man can do it. It is true. But the real question is, if one man did it, are you willing to do what it takes to do it as well?" –Brian Austin Whitney
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