Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Groundhog Day
Happy Groundhog Day, everybody! Well, it seems that old Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow again today, and that means that winter will stay here for a while. Or so he'd like us to believe.
As for me and my house, I'm fed up with Phil and the myth surrounding him. The whole Groundhog thing is like Santa Claus, only there never comes a time when it's made explicit that this whole thing is a fraud. I'd like to do that for you now, by way of a personal anecdote.
I went to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on Groundhog Day 2002 (02/02/02!). It was one of the coldest, most sleep-deprived experiences of my life. We had to be at the top of Gobbler's Knob by 3:00am in order to get a place to see the groundhog at sunrise. There was a terrible parking deficit in town (it's a very tiny town, after all), and then they had shuttle buses up to the Knob. We stood there in the cold with all the Pennsylvania college students, reveling in the festivities. There were crazy people dressed up in groundhog suits, people holding signs saying things like "We [heart] Phil!" or "Six More Weeks!" and four even crazier guys with their shirts off and P-H-I-L spelled out on their chests. Up to this point, the groundhog pageantry was operating just as it should.
Then, about 7:00am, about half an hour before the sun peeked over the horizon, the ceremony started. I was confused, because the whole point is whether the groundhog is going to see his shadow, and although the sky was light, the sun wasn't up enough to be able to cast a shadow. True, we were all grateful to finally get started after freezing in the snow for four hours, but it didn't seem right. Nevertheless, the ceremony went on. Some freaks in top hats (the "Inner Circle") got up on the stage and ranted about how cool Phil is. They knocked their cane on the stump Phil was in, opened the door on it, pulled him out, held him up, and asked him to speak to them in groundhog-ese. He saw his shadow. Sigh.
How could he have seen his shadow when the sun wasn't even up yet? I'll tell you how. And if you're a Phil-lover like I was, this is going to scar you for life: They had floodlights lighting up the stage. Yes, folks. Modern day groundhogging doesn't require such outmoded light sources as the sun to produce the groundhog's shadow; electricity has solved that problem for us. Probably the only reason they didn't just get on with it at 3:00am (the crowd was all there) was because TV wouldn't air it live at that time.
Yes, floodlights have ruined groundhog day for us and condemned us to extra-long winters. Think I'm joking? In the last 118 years, he's seen his shadow 95 times.
As for me and my house, I'm fed up with Phil and the myth surrounding him. The whole Groundhog thing is like Santa Claus, only there never comes a time when it's made explicit that this whole thing is a fraud. I'd like to do that for you now, by way of a personal anecdote.
I went to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on Groundhog Day 2002 (02/02/02!). It was one of the coldest, most sleep-deprived experiences of my life. We had to be at the top of Gobbler's Knob by 3:00am in order to get a place to see the groundhog at sunrise. There was a terrible parking deficit in town (it's a very tiny town, after all), and then they had shuttle buses up to the Knob. We stood there in the cold with all the Pennsylvania college students, reveling in the festivities. There were crazy people dressed up in groundhog suits, people holding signs saying things like "We [heart] Phil!" or "Six More Weeks!" and four even crazier guys with their shirts off and P-H-I-L spelled out on their chests. Up to this point, the groundhog pageantry was operating just as it should.
Then, about 7:00am, about half an hour before the sun peeked over the horizon, the ceremony started. I was confused, because the whole point is whether the groundhog is going to see his shadow, and although the sky was light, the sun wasn't up enough to be able to cast a shadow. True, we were all grateful to finally get started after freezing in the snow for four hours, but it didn't seem right. Nevertheless, the ceremony went on. Some freaks in top hats (the "Inner Circle") got up on the stage and ranted about how cool Phil is. They knocked their cane on the stump Phil was in, opened the door on it, pulled him out, held him up, and asked him to speak to them in groundhog-ese. He saw his shadow. Sigh.
How could he have seen his shadow when the sun wasn't even up yet? I'll tell you how. And if you're a Phil-lover like I was, this is going to scar you for life: They had floodlights lighting up the stage. Yes, folks. Modern day groundhogging doesn't require such outmoded light sources as the sun to produce the groundhog's shadow; electricity has solved that problem for us. Probably the only reason they didn't just get on with it at 3:00am (the crowd was all there) was because TV wouldn't air it live at that time.
Yes, floodlights have ruined groundhog day for us and condemned us to extra-long winters. Think I'm joking? In the last 118 years, he's seen his shadow 95 times.
Comments: Post a Comment
