six more weeks...

Facts and thoughts on Groundhog Day:

Yes, we made cookies.
Yes, that is my very own groundhog-shaped cookie cutter and top-hatted rodent. I also have a mug.

Growing up, my family celebrated Groundhog Day each year as diligently as any church holiday and I could never figure out why my peers didn't mark the day with cookies and cards like we did at home. I'm not sure if any of us can remember how the festivities began, but they certainly haven't let up over the years. Maybe it had something do with my dad being a librarian; after all, Punxsutawney Phil spends the other 364 days of his year in the Groundhog Zoo at the Punxsutaweny Memorial Library.

Yes, I've proudly visited him there. (We always did a lot of library tourism on our vacations.)

For those of you who don't mark rodent-centric holidays on your calendar (February 2 - remember it for next year!), here's a little run-down: based on German superstition, if a groundhog sees his shadow on Candlemas, then it bodes 6 more weeks of winter. Sure, Spring is technically in about 6 weeks anyway, but this holiday gives the folks of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania an excuse for lots of top-hats, braggadocio and some pretty epic mustaches. A lot of other cities (all with equally baffling names) boast their own groundhogs and their predictions can vary wildly. I would recommend that they all band together to form some sort of unionized weather service, except that I know the rest of them are impostors. Shubenacadie Sam? Staten Island Chuck? Bah.

If (for some reason) you didn't get up at daybreak to watch Phil's prediction live this year, you can still see it on groundhog.org. The fact that Phil snagged that URL is enough for me to legitimize his prognosticating primacy.

My favorite part of this year's holiday coverage was that GOOD magazine compared him to a soused gambler:

"Phil has a motley track record. At 30% accuracy, he doesn’t even beat the flip of coin; he’s more like a drunk at a poker table: You could make money simply by betting against him."

And yes, that was part of an article using the movie, Groundhog Day, to illustrate complex ideas in economics, physics and theology. Who could blame theorists for trying? That film is fantastic. Last week, I came across an artist online who was illustrating a book of famous Bills and Williams in mock masonic garb called the Billuminati.
Yes, the Bill Murray spread was the best.

And yes, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, predicting six more weeks of winter.