Groundhog Day
Saying goodbye to February, is in it’s own way a welcomed relief. Cold sporadic weather. Mornings with just light enough to see your way to work, coming home in the same – twilight. Even with the romance of Valentine’s Day, and an extra day to call your own during the Family Day long weekend, isn’t it nice that February is 2-3-days shorter than every other month of the year?
Sure it is …
Makes me ponder Groundhog day …
The first documented American reference to Groundhog Day is dated February 4, 1841, from storekeeper James Morris of Morgantown, Pennsylvania:
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 Scotland, the poem:
If Candle-mas Day is bright and clear,
There'll be two winters in the year.
An English poem:
If Candle mas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.
Alternative theories
In western countries in the Northern Hemisphere, the official first day of spring is almost seven weeks (46–48 days) after Groundhog Day, March 20 or March 21. 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 six more weeks until the equinox.
But the fun stuff lies with the movie “Groundhog Day” featuring Bill Murray.
Am I finally at an age where I get this movie?
Don’t get me wrong, I have always enjoyed the entertainment of the show, but now I finally get it. Creatures of habit, we get up the same time each day, brush our teeth, get the kids ready for school, read the paper, watch or listen to the news, drive to work, come home, gather the kids, eat supper, chores, catch a couple flicks on the tele and off to bed again.
Then one morning you wake up and life feels like a deja-vu. My heavens, didn’t I just do this? I’m on auto pilot because I am doing it again and again. No wonder time seems to fly by.
We need to shake it up, take a few minutes to do something different – take up a hobby, do something special for yourself and your loved ones. Make your own mid-week special occasions. Have a belly laugh so loud it hurts and tears spring to your eyes. Make someone else laugh the same. Share, have an adventure.
Isn’t this the ultimate message from Bill Murray … work it until you get it right? Once you get it right, the day is complete and we then and only then can move onto tomorrow.
Saying goodbye to February, is in it’s own way a welcomed relief. Cold sporadic weather. Mornings with just light enough to see your way to work, coming home in the same – twilight. Even with the romance of Valentine’s Day, and an extra day to call your own during the Family Day long weekend, isn’t it nice that February is 2-3-days shorter than every other month of the year?
Sure it is …
Makes me ponder Groundhog day …
The first documented American reference to Groundhog Day is dated February 4, 1841, from storekeeper James Morris of Morgantown, Pennsylvania:
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 Scotland, the poem:
If Candle-mas Day is bright and clear,
There'll be two winters in the year.
An English poem:
If Candle mas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.
Alternative theories
In western countries in the Northern Hemisphere, the official first day of spring is almost seven weeks (46–48 days) after Groundhog Day, March 20 or March 21. 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 six more weeks until the equinox.
But the fun stuff lies with the movie “Groundhog Day” featuring Bill Murray.
Am I finally at an age where I get this movie?
Don’t get me wrong, I have always enjoyed the entertainment of the show, but now I finally get it. Creatures of habit, we get up the same time each day, brush our teeth, get the kids ready for school, read the paper, watch or listen to the news, drive to work, come home, gather the kids, eat supper, chores, catch a couple flicks on the tele and off to bed again.
Then one morning you wake up and life feels like a deja-vu. My heavens, didn’t I just do this? I’m on auto pilot because I am doing it again and again. No wonder time seems to fly by.
We need to shake it up, take a few minutes to do something different – take up a hobby, do something special for yourself and your loved ones. Make your own mid-week special occasions. Have a belly laugh so loud it hurts and tears spring to your eyes. Make someone else laugh the same. Share, have an adventure.
Isn’t this the ultimate message from Bill Murray … work it until you get it right? Once you get it right, the day is complete and we then and only then can move onto tomorrow.