Groundhog Day

I seriously thought about adding Sonny and Cher’s I Got You Babe to my partner’s iPod last night and setting the dock’s alarm clock function to play that song when it turned on. Alas, I don’t think it even has an alarm clock, or if so I couldn’t figure it out.

A tradition of ours on Groundhog Day is to watch none other than the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. While we don’t always watch the movie exactly on the day, we do watch it within that week. This year will be another later-this-week viewing due to scheduling conflicts.

This all got me wondering how this whole fascination of an oversized rodent being able to see his shadow or not began. Most sources agree that here in the United States and Canada anyway, it’s a German custom started in the 18th century. However, the lore dates back much farther in European history where there are a multitude of traditions all on February 2nd quite related to the Groundhog tradition here. I can only suppose the German settlers in Pennsylvania brought a little bit of tradition with them when they made this their new home, and that makes sense.

So happy Groundhog day to everyone! And for all of you suffering from the crazy winter storms occurring right now, fear not! Punxsutawney Phil says that it’ll be an Early Spring!