Note: The title is a riff on a slogan a friend coined and unsuccessfully tried to propagate – “Worship the chicken.” Time has not been kind to his logic and to repeat his rationale now would cause him more harm today than it did back in high school (and you can imagine how well it went back down then).
Apparently it’s Groundhog’s Day. I realized it was coming up, but it was late in the morning before I realized today was the day people gather to consult a burrowing mammal about the long-term weather forecast.
How do traditions like this get started?
I am reminded of a Bill Murray line from the movie “Groundhog Day” – “This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. What a hype. Well, it used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to *eat* it. You're hypocrites, all of you!”
Was there an eccentric farmer who always swore by the groundhog that lived behind his shed? Was a child saved by a benevolent groundhog which rescued him from a freak blizzard? Or was it simply an economically created “holiday” to boost tourism numbers?
All hail the mighty groundhog and the mighty dollar. In them we trust.
The people who try to sell us on the predicting power are the same people who claim to speak in “Groundhogese.”
Even though the illustrious Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, I don’t think the end of my winter is six weeks away. I’ve been told the winter lasts longer here in the Rockies. One person told me I can expect spring to start in June. I’m still not sure if they’re joking.
I actually have more respect and confidence in a forecast made by a furry mammal than an average professional weatherman. One has a naturally-derived instinct and the other one has a simple degree – guess which one I value more. Nevertheless, I’m probably going to ignore both and simply move on.
After all, that’s what the groundhog is going to do. After being woken up early, stuffed in a fake log, being forcibly yanked out again, and finally paraded around for everyone to see, he’s going to back to his unnatural environment of a cage and sleep off a crazy day.
“They did it to me, again this year,” he must think as he drifts off to groundhog dreams.
We’ll see you in a year, Phil. Sleep well until then.
said...
Sellout. Everybody writes about Groundhog's Day on Groundhog's Day. Except me, who now only writes one update a week. So, next week, yeah, Groundhog's Day tribute.
Solon said...
According to the Reuters article this morning Phil predicts that there will be six more weeks of winter "somewhere", not necessarily in eastern Pennsylvania or in Wyoming.
There were also apparently quite a few groundhogs predicting weather today. Staten Island Chuck apparently predicts a quick spring.
In short, don't trust a groundhog but with those stipulations he's 100 percent accurate somewhere. We just won't know where for another six weeks.
Hannah said...
You wanna know where Groundhog Day came from?
Like many others, the origins stem from a delightful European pagan holiday from the fifth century. The Christians, again like normal, changed it into Candlemas, a celebration of the infant Jesus to the temple and the purification of the Virgin Mary. Both focused on the somewhat mystical ability of a furry mammal to predict the future weather. Sample lyric:
If Candlemas Day is bright and clear/There'll be two winters in the year.
Candlemas focused around hedgehogs, which the Pilgrams (upon reaching America) found in short supply. Instead, they decided on the next best thing: the groundhog.
Because everyone has their own website anymore: http://www.groundhog.org/faq/history.shtml
Caleb Michael said...
Hannah said...
Just for awareness: I'm not crazy, it's just my favorite second tier holiday.
Caleb Michael said...
I never thought you were crazy. I myself looked up Candlemass and Germanic superstitions yesterday afternoon, but by then I was already at work and couldn't write about it.