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KF5JRV > TODAY 02.02.19 14:38l 52 Lines 2500 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 30511_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 02
Path: IW8PGT<IR2UBX<SR1BSZ<F1OYP<ON0AR<VE2PKT<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190202/1231Z 30511@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
On this day in 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is
celebrated for the first time at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney,
Pennsylvania. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its
hole on this day and sees its shadow, it gets scared and runs back into
its burrow, predicting six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means
an early spring.
Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Christian tradition of
Candlemas, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for
winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be.
Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal–the hedgehog–as
a means of predicting weather. Once they came to America, German
settlers in Pennsylvania continued the tradition, although they switched
from hedgehogs to groundhogs, which were plentiful in the Keystone
State.
Groundhogs, also called woodchucks and whose scientific name is Marmota
monax, typically weigh 12 to 15 pounds and live six to eight years. They
eat vegetables and fruits, whistle when they’re frightened or looking
for a mate (they’re sometimes called whistle pigs) and can climb trees
and swim.
They go into hibernation in the late fall; during this time, their body
temperatures drop significantly, their heartbeats slow from 80 to five
beats per minute and they can lose 30 percent of their body fat. In
February, male groundhogs emerge from their burrows to look for a mate
(not to predict the weather) before going underground again. They come
out of hibernation for good in March.
In 1887, a newspaper editor belonging to a group of groundhog hunters
from Punxsutawney called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club declared that
Phil, the Punxsutawney groundhog, was America’s only true
weather-forecasting groundhog. The line of groundhogs that have since
been known as Phil might be America’s most famous groundhogs, but other
towns across North America now have their own weather-predicting
rodents, from Birmingham Bill to Staten Island Chuck to Shubenacadie Sam
in Canada.
In 1993, the movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray popularized the
usage of “groundhog dayö to mean something that is repeated over and
over. Today, tens of thousands of people converge on Gobbler’s Knob in
Punxsutawney each February 2 to witness Phil’s prediction. The
Punxsutawney Groundhog Club hosts a three-day celebration featuring
entertainment and activities.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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