There are some truly wonderful American traditions - of which my favorite has to be Groundhog Day. Since 1886, crowds of up to 40,000 have gathered at Punxsutawney, Pa. to see 'Punxsutawney Phil,' the resident groundhog, emerge from his borrow to predict the next six weeks of wintery weather.Sadly, Punxsutawney Phil 'saw his shadow' when he emerged today, dooming North East America to another six weeks of snow and ice.
It's actually a German tradition - back in the 'old country,' a badger would predict the weather. As much of Pennsylvania was colonized by the Germans (hence towns like 'Germantown') it's carried on to this day and become an American institution in much the same way as Thanksgiving.
Although Punxsutawney Phil saw another six weeks of winter to struggle through, America's most famous rodent was in good spirits. His local team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, won the Superbowl the night before.
3 comments:
Isn't all this ice and snow a contradiction to Global Warming? Now there's a blog post worth writing :)
Dammit... I'm not sure I can handle another six weeks of ice and snow up north! Perhaps I'll have to escape to the City... perhaps this weekend... :)
Groundhogs are assholes. This new opinion just started today.
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