Day 278: Groundhog Day

"If it all just happens like this for the rest of my life, it's going to be one endless Groundhog Day. I determined that I was not prepared to submit to this regime, so I thought I had to do something about it." - Bruce Dickinson

Project 365: #278

"Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye
Now, this Second Day of February, Two Thousand and Sixteen, the One Hundred and Thirtieth Annual Trek of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club….
Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of All Prognosticators, was awakened from his borrow to the cheers of his thousands of faithful followers….
In Groundhogese, he directed the President and the Inner Circle to the precise prediction Scroll, which translated reads:

The inner circle goes to great ends  
To keep me abreast of latest trends
 Down in my burrow I never get bored   
Riding on my hover board 
And I sure have fun flying my drone 
But weather forecasting is my comfort zone 
Is this current warm weather more than a trend? 
 Per chance this winter has come to an end? 
There is no shadow to be cast,  
 An early Spring is my forecast!"

 Picture courtesy of http://www.visitpa.com/articles/groundhog-day

Well, it turns out that this is a big celebration just down the road from us, and it happens that 2016 is the 130th anniversary of Groundhog Day, which all started in 1886 with the celebration of Candelmas, a Christian holiday where candles were blessed and distributed. German immigrants brought the tradition taught to them from Roman legions, to Pennsylvania: if clear skies occurred on this day, then winter was declared over, or if the sun was out, and a hedgehog would cast a shadow, six more weeks of bad weather or "second winter" were declared. In 1886, "The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club", a group of groundhog hunters, proclaimed that Punxsutawney Phil was the "one and only prognosticating groundhog", and one of the members of this group, an editor from a local newspaper, issued a proclamation on Candlemas, spreading Phil's fame! And so the tradition has continued...and Phil officially declared an early spring this year, as no shadow was cast! Woohoo!!! Hopefully the snow-cast for later in the week will not hold true!

Anyhow, who really knows....the most important thing is to enjoy each day for what it is, and not have to get stuck in "Groundhog Day" in the endless repetition of life, not being able to break free to realize our dreams!

 All info on Phil courtesy of http://www.groundhog.org/groundhog-day-2016/.