Punxsutawney Phil must be stopped. The lovable little groundhog must be stopped.
You know Phil. Every Feb. 2, Groundhog Day, he is yanked from a tree stump in Punxsutawney, Pa. If he sees his shadow, his organizers allege, there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, spring will be just around the corner.
Millions have enjoyed this primitive ritual for years, but now there’s a problem.
Groundhog Day evolved from Candlemas Day, a Christian tradition commemorating the purification of the Virgin Mary. As this tradition evolved in Germany, it got ever more colorful.
Germans soon believed that Candlemas Day could also predict the weather. Somewhere along the line they began yanking a hedgehog out of a tree stump, and the tradition was born. When German immigrants settled in Punxsutawney in 1887, they brought the tradition with them.
Now we have a problem.
How, in this day and age, can any government body impose on our diverse society any celebration that has its roots in a Christian faith? Aren’t the people of Punxsutawney providing their de facto support of one religion over the others? Isn’t their outmoded event offensive to those who practice no religion?
Isn’t this annual event, then, out of sync with the American tradition of separating church and state? If Santa Claus and Christmas trees are being banished in public squares, how can Groundhog Day not follow suit?
13 comments
Don’t you know, the animists appropriated this tradition so now it’s okay to celebrate it since the threat of a law suit from the ACLU hangs over the heads of any government official who would dare restrict this annual pagan event.
I went there a couple of times when I was in college and think of it as Mardi Gras lite. No nudity, but plenty of debauchery and public drunkenness. So of course the ACLU stands behind it.
And I thought it was just a Bill Murray movie about a guy having a REALLY bad day.
😉
I was wondering if you might go into the complications this year. Many will know it’s Groundhog Day, but how many will know it’s the Feast of the Presentation?
Animal rights activists aside, how closely related are hedgehogs and groundhogs? As for any yanking of hedgehogs, one must proceed with caution: they are a cousin of the porcupine and have sharp quills. :o)
Dear Jeff Miller,
Sorry about posting an unrelated comment, but this seemed important and urgent to me. Susan Vigilante’s weblog no longer has the URL http://www.desperateirishhousewife.blogspot.com (No one visit this URL, please). Apparently, her new URL is:
http://www.desperateirishhousewife.com/
The old URL now redirects to an explicitly pornographic website, as I found out to my shock. I’m not sure if this is a temporary takeover by some cracker or if it is permanent. Please look into this matter and make the necessary changes in you list of blogs.
Yours in Christ,
Innocent
I wondered why everyone has been sending me cards with “Happy WOODCHUCK Day” on it. And the latest Human Resources memo has forbidden people to display festive rodentia on their desks at work because it might offend some of the clients.
😉
My goodness gracious – I never would have guessed that such a curious “holiday” as Groundhog Day had its roots in such a beautiful Feast as Candlemas. Thank you for the info – I will be sure to lift a glass to Punxsatawney Phil and then another in honor of the Feast of the Purification!
“Festive rodentia”? That’s funny.
Groundhogs don’t have quills like hedgehogs. They’re as tall as your mid-calf, fat as little bear cubs and can be very friendly but they’re still WILD and do have sharp teeth. I sure wouldn’t yANk one out of anything.
Groundhogs look like much larger and less colorful guinea pigs or cavies (to which they are related).
They do NOT make cute pets.
I’ve got the Bill Murray movie and some candles for blessing for this Friday. I’d love to make some Bloody Marys to enjoy while we watch our movie by candlelight, but alas – I can’t stand vodka ever since I puked up way too much of it in Poland.
The Poles are serious about their vodka.
“The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as the woodchuck, or whistlepig, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. ”
“A hedgehog is any of the small spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. “
In short, groundhogs are rodents- hedgehogs are not. They are not closely related at all. Groundhogs are related to porcupines, and to rats, but not as closely as they are related to squirrels
I went searching for information on how the $!$#$!! groundhogs got involved. As usual, the only sources I could find for “the Roman celebration of *Februa* as Hedgehog Day” were people quoting each other.
As I expected, Ovid’s FASTI had no “festival of Februa”, only astronomical data for February 2nd, and no mention of hedgehogs.
So, does anybody have anything resembling a primary source on the hedgehogs?
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