Subject: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Little Hawk Date: 02 Feb 13 - 01:04 PM Yes, it is. How wonderful! Once again, our fat, furry, ground-dwelling friends set the record straight and deliver what is the Last Word in weather predicting. Punxatawney Phil prognosticates an Early Spring! |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: GUEST,Eliza Date: 02 Feb 13 - 02:19 PM Here's where I reveal just how truly and lamentably ignorant I am. I know there's a film called Groundhog Day and I think it involves the same thing happening over and over again. But what exactly IS Groundhog Day, LH? Is it a real day in USA, and if so, what happens and why? Please excuse my total lack of knowledge! |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: catspaw49 Date: 02 Feb 13 - 02:28 PM Dressed up asshole in a jerkwater Pennsylvania town drag a whistle pig out of the fully constructed by human jadeools burrow and ask if he sees his shadow. This is the ceremony that goes with the folklore of ..... When the Groundhog comes out of his hole on February 2 and sees his shadow, he will retreat back into his hole and there will be 6 more weeks of winter.......otherwise we get an early Spring. This works well in a country where fully 50% of the moronic jackasses that live there believe that an athlete who worships and has faith in god will be do far better. About 30% believe there Judeo-Christian god can influence sporting contests. The groundhog stuff is really a lot of fun but there are those who believe in way too much.......... Spaw |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: catspaw49 Date: 02 Feb 13 - 02:32 PM The word is "jadrools" not jadools and means lazy bum, as in "broke-dick jadrool" like LH.......sorry for the typo. Spaw |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Rapparee Date: 02 Feb 13 - 02:35 PM Yes, he came out and he was delicious. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Greg F. Date: 02 Feb 13 - 02:57 PM Yeah, but Spaw, it ain't the groundhog's fault. He/she is just tryin' to get by with all these lunatic humans carrying on. I'm kinda fond of woodchucks, myself - long as they ain't eatin' my bean plants..... |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Mooh Date: 02 Feb 13 - 03:10 PM Wiarton Willie is my hero. He is the one true groundhog. Peace, Mooh. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Mooh Date: 02 Feb 13 - 03:13 PM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Nl4JFDLOU Too much talk about fraud groundhogs and not enough about the one true groundhog, Wiarton Willie, but it makes the point. Peace, Mooh. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: GUEST,Eliza Date: 02 Feb 13 - 05:57 PM Er....eh? |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Rapparee Date: 02 Feb 13 - 06:38 PM Fried Woodchuck/Grounhog 1 woodchuck 1 tbsp salt 1 cup flour 2 tbsp fat Clean woodchuck; remove glands; cut into 6 or 7 pieces. Parboil in salted water for 1 hour. Remove from broth; roll in flour and fry in hot fat (deep fat may be used) until brown. Serves 6. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Little Hawk Date: 02 Feb 13 - 07:59 PM Wiarton Willie is a bonafide Canadian hero, no doubt of that. But he has yet to star in a heavy duty movie like "Groundhog Day", so Phil is still the King. Another great Groundhog is Shubenacedie Sam. Groundhogs have been accurately predicting the weather ever since pre-Columbian times. They are absolute masters of The Craft, and they spend no time worrying about cynical morons who cannot appreciate their brilliance. Eliza - Groundhog Day is a secular holiday which has largely replaced the ancient religious festivals that were once observed in early February all over North America by Christians and Native religions alike. Those festivals go back in the Christian tradition right to Roman times, and before that to the pre-Christian traditions in Europe as well, and they all have to do with the promise of light and warmth one day returning to the land to end the depth and darkness of winter. This was seen as a sacred promise to people in times when life absolutely depended upon the new growing season and the return of warmth (as, in fact, it still does). In the Christian religion, it marks the day, Feb 2, when Jesus was taken (as a young boy) by his parents to be officially recognized in the Temple in Jerusalem in an offering ceremony rather similar to the later baptism ceremonies. All Jewish boys had this ceremony in the same fashion in that culture. Additionally, it was considered a time of Purification in Roman society, and was an important event for Romans. It is also identified with Jesus' mother Mary. It was therefore once a festival with deep religious and symbolic meaning to the entire culture. It's now just a pleasant little "entertainment" event enjoyed by the media and a few small towns like Punxatawney and Wiarton...which helps generate some tourist dollars and publicity for them. The new story is that when the Groundhog emerges from his hole on Feb 2nd (if he does)....that if he sees his shadow and gets scared and runs back down the hole, there will be 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow, and stays out for a bit, there will be a short winter and an early spring. It's a cute story, and most people like it, because Groundhogs are cute. Those who don't like it are a bunch of sour old killjoys who don't even deserve to be called "jadrools", because they are a bit lower on the human scale than a jadrool. They're more like on the level of decaying old smegma or something similar to that...definitely way past their due date. Willie and Phil have nothing but contempt for these cretins and Philistines. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 02 Feb 13 - 08:14 PM To answer one of your questions, Eliza, I don't think I've ever had anything happen (like a party or special food) on Groundhog Day. We don't do anything, we just joke about it. The idea that things happen over and over is unique to the movie "Groundhog Day," where a rude and conceited TV weatherman relives Groundhog Day in a Pennsylvania town until he reforms. Maybe the script writers got the basic premise from Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." I hear that there's a town in Pennsylvania where they have a festival, but whether that was because of the movie or whether it came before, I don't know. It beats Lake Wobegon's Toast 'n' Jelly Days as an excuse to party. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Little Hawk Date: 02 Feb 13 - 08:29 PM They were celebrating the festival long before the movie, leeneia, and that's why the moviemakers chose that town as the movie location. It was perfect, because the stage was already set to tell the story. "Groundhog Day" is a spectacular demonstration of how reincarnation would work in terms of gradually re-educating a person toward gaining their own spiritual maturity through the means that registers the strongest: direct personal experience of the inevitable results of your own actions...specially the foolish ones. It takes a long time, but people do eventually learn...usually after they're tried every kind of selfish, greedy, and unwise shortcut possible. Their final objective? Happiness! |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: JennieG Date: 02 Feb 13 - 08:43 PM We visited Wiarton last October but we didn't see Willie! But we had a very good hot chocolate at a local cafe. I wonder whether groundhogs like hot chocolate? Cheers JennieG |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Joe Offer Date: 02 Feb 13 - 08:50 PM I gotta say, Groundhog Day is the most unpretentious holiday anywhere. I think that's what makes it so much fun. -Joe- |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: GUEST,999 Date: 02 Feb 13 - 08:52 PM "We visited Wiarton last October but we didn't see Willie!" You'll regret having said that when the Brits awake. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: JennieG Date: 02 Feb 13 - 09:45 PM Don't worry Bruce, the term is used here too.....perhaps Wiarton should have christened their groundhog Walter, to avoid any confusion and smutty jokes? |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: GUEST,999 Date: 02 Feb 13 - 09:56 PM One would think, eh? LOL |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: ChanteyLass Date: 03 Feb 13 - 12:15 AM What others have written above about Groundhog Day is correct. To add to all that, I'd say it's a US secular version of Candlemas Day. For Feb. 2nd this year, one of the libraries near me scheduled a visit from a hedgehog for a children's program. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: catspaw49 Date: 03 Feb 13 - 12:40 AM A few years back I got disgusted with the "Christmas Update Letter" concept as they were just over the top. We quit sending cards a long time back and some of these people were barely acquaintenances. So I sent out a "Groundhog's Day Letter" in the same style but totally full of shit. It ran 6 pages long and included a Cletus and Paw story. I sent it to a few good friends who got the joke but the rest for the most part stopped sending us anything or staying in touch in anyway. So I actually do have a special place in my heart for the day. And yes leeneia, the town is Punxsutawney and it is just north of Pittsburgh. They have had celebrations there with their famous whistle pig, "Punxsutawney Phil" since the late 1800's. Spaw |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Little Hawk Date: 03 Feb 13 - 01:19 AM Not only does Punxsutawney have the world's foremost Groundhog festival, they also have the world's most bizarrely spelled town name. And, yes, Candlemas is the old Christian celebration of February 2nd, briging light and warmth into the darkness of winter, and two of the churches in Orillia celebrated it with candlelit processions on the street in the early evening darkness. Very nice! In medieval times the entire town would turn out for these processions and everyone would participate. That was before TV, of course... |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: GUEST,Eliza Date: 03 Feb 13 - 06:06 AM Thank you very much for explaining it to me Little Hawk. I see on a website I looked up that the little creature is a type of marmot or ground squirrel. We don't have them in UK. I like to hear about traditional festivals and this one seems very interesting and a bit different. I'm also intrigued by the concept that one can change if subjected to the same situation over and over. I think this is true, one learns eventually and adapts. Sometimes it seems that the Universe presents the same problem again and again to me until I've mastered how to solve it. Those little creatures are very sweet aren't they? I feel less ignorant now! |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Mooh Date: 03 Feb 13 - 09:10 AM "We visited Wiarton last October but we didn't see Willie! But we had a very good hot chocolate at a local cafe. I wonder whether groundhogs like hot chocolate?" [JennieG] That's a shame. Did you go to the beach and bask in the glow of his statue? I make the pilgrimage at least once a year. Peace, Mooh. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: Rapparee Date: 03 Feb 13 - 11:39 AM And today, February 3, is the feast of St. Blaise. He's the patron saint of getting things, especially fish bones, stuck in your throat out (and preventing such). In the past a priest blessed you while sticking crossed (unlit) candles around your throat and after that you didn't have to worry about fish bones and stuff getting stuck in your throat. (They were unlit after Vatican II -- back in MY day they used lit candles and you could tell those who'd been the church for the blessing because their ears and hair were burned off. People today are wussies; we were tough, I tell ya, tough!) |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: sciencegeek Date: 03 Feb 13 - 11:53 AM yes.. groundhogs are also called woodchucks... of the "how much wood can a woodchuck chuck?... if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" silliness. They are members of the marmot found throughout North America... too often in your garden or on the side of the road wondering if he would end up as yet another road pizza. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: GUEST Date: 03 Feb 13 - 12:22 PM what again! |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: JennieG Date: 03 Feb 13 - 09:30 PM Mooh, we saw the statue.....but didn't linger for too long; it was a rainy cold overcast day, not conducive to spending much time outside. In the cafe though, with a very yummy hot chocolate, was a different matter. Cheers JennieG |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: GUEST,999 Date: 03 Feb 13 - 09:35 PM I awoke, didn't see my shadow, so fook the lot of you I'm going back to bed :-) |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 04 Feb 13 - 07:27 PM It may be related to the squirrel and marmot, but a groundhog can get to be big animal. The jrank organization says: The groundhog is a rather large marmot, typically weighing about 6.6-13.2 lb (3-6 kg). One captive animal, however, managed to achieve a enormous 37.4 lb (17 kg) just prior to its wintertime hibernation, when these animals are at their heaviest. 30 years ago, my husband and I were having a picnic on the sloping side of a country cemetery in Kentucky. Suddenly the long grass rustled, and a BIG groundhog waddled out of it, right up to us. We didn't move a muscle, and it gave a startled, affronted snort and went back the way it had come. It seems to me that its body was as about as big as a basketball - that's pretty big. |
Subject: RE: BS: It's........GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! From: GUEST,Eliza Date: 05 Feb 13 - 05:14 AM How lovely leeneia! I bet he fancied a bit of your picnic! |