It's February 2nd!!!

SO WHAT?

I know..bloody typical, average, cold winter day in February, right?

Not if you live in North America! Today is Groundhog Day, when groundhogs come out of their little holes to see if they can spot their shadows, and if they can, well, back into their holes they go for another 6 weeks of dreary winter. But if they can't, it means that Spring is coming early!!!

Ok, but this isn't something all groundhogs do apparently. You have to be special. And that means that you're Punxsutawney Phil (above) from Pennsylvania, widely regarded at the ONE AND ONLY ORIGINAL weather predicter, or his challengers Staten Island Chuck from New York, Wiarton Willy from Ontario, and Shubenacadie Sam from Nova Scotia.

This year apparently everyone feels that Spring is coming early, EXCEPT grumpy ol' Phil. Thanks a lot Phil, just had to be different. Just so you know, no one's really believing you, because any idiot can see that we've been having an unusually warm winter this year.

But back to the tradition, and to the art of creating and keeping traditions to remind us we need some silliness in our lives. The groundhog tradition, which apparently stems from an old German superstition, has been around for ages, beginning alledgedly in Pennsylvania with a couple of rather silly settlers. Phil lives in his burrow in Punxsytawney's Gobbler's Knob, (itself reason to chuckle), and has some good friends called the Groundhog Club's Inner Circle, who wear top hats, feed Phil, and organise his big event every year. They speak Groundhogese to Phil and translate what he says to the rest of us. Phil's done some other stuff in his day besides just the weather. He's travelled to DC to meet with Reagan, made threats during Prohibition that he would predict 60 more weeks of winter if he wasn't allowed a drink, and yes..has been on Oprah.

This tradition really is one of my personal favourites, along with the seventh-inning stretch in baseball. How can you not smile when the big morning news of the day is interviews with Phil and Chuck, (who frankly don't look that happy about being roused from their sleep, and who frankly can't even talk in the first place). How can you not smile when you read leading headlines like 'US Groundhog Sees Shadow'. And really, how can you not smile when you see the hundreds (yes hundreds) of people gathered to hear the prediction, many with groundhog stickers on their cheeks, and some even dressed as groundhogs.

A New York Times article described organisations latching on to Phil for some publicity - the National Environmental Trust said its human in a groundhog suit ''will ignore his shadow and will instead rely on global warming evidence to forecast an early spring'', while the American Physiological Society was offering experts to discuss ''What Punxsutawney Phil can teach us about surviving massive blood loss, preventing muscle atrophy, and more.''

According to the NYT article - "none of those things are really what Groundhog Day is about, said Mike Johnston, a member of the Groundhog Club's Inner Circle. Punxsutawney Phil is nonpolitical and can't speak anyway, Johnston said."

Hooray for silliness - just what we need to get through the winter!!

For more info on groundhog day and Phil, who's been predicting since 1886, see http://www.groundhog.org
For Wiarton Willy, also known as the famous albino groundhog see http://gocanada.about.com/library/weekly/aa012903a.htm