Does It Really Matter If Punxsutawney Phil Saw His Shadow This Morning?

 It is mostly sunny and 38 degrees here in my neck of the woods this morning.

Tonight the temps will plummet to 26 degrees.

Meanwhile, various media sources claim that the world's most famous
groundhog saw his shadow earlier this morning at Gobbler's Knob in
the town of Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvania.

Does this really mean we will see six more weeks 
 of winter cold and weather this year?

As a person who loves snow, I hope so!

Punxsutawney Phil being held by a member of the Inner Circle

(2018)

Image courtesy/Wikipedia

However, I do not take my cues from a furry little animal
awakened from his long winter's nap on a frosty February morning.

As king Solomon attests in Ecclesiastes 3:1,  "To everything there is
a season and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven."

Jesus recognized the unprecedented glory which Solomon's human
wisdom had brought him, but, He said that Solomon arrayed in all of
 it was not equal to one tiny lily of the field-which God's wisdom had made.
(Matthew 6:29)

Should people rely on one of God's creatures to forecast the weather?
Or should we put our faith in the Creator, in His perfect wisdom, to decide?

Whistlepig is an old-fashioned name for a groundhog.

A little History Lesson about Groundhog Day 

The annual practice of interrupting the groundhog's sleep in order for
him to see his shadow- or not- is based on regional folklore that there
 has only been one Phil and that all other groundhogs are imposters.

It is believed by those in Phil's Inner Circle of human beings that this
  furry creature has somehow obtained immortality, as he has survived since
  the year 1886, sustained by "groundhog punch" also called the "elixir of life"
 which is administered at an annual Groundhog Picnic in the fall.

By the way, the actual lifespan of a groundhog in the
wilderness is roughly about six years.
  
This administered "elixir of life" is said to "transform" Phil into the "seer
 of seers, prognosticator of prognosticators" as proclaimed by his Inner Circle.
Every February 2nd, when he emerges, with a little help from his patrons, 
 from his burrow home on Gobbler's Knob,  if, like this morning, he
  sees his now famous shadow,  it is believed that there will be
 six more weeks of wintertime.

Considered to be "all in good fun" perhaps this annual event was first established 
 to break the monotony of dreary winter days.  It is said that Phil's "Inner Circle"
keeps the plans of this annual ritual shrouded in total secrecy.

Today's ceremony, as in the past, saw members of the Inner Circle elegantly
dressed in late Victorian-era attire, including top hats, as they lifted 
 the sleepy groundhog out of his burrow to see his shadow.

Each year two scrolls are prepared by the vice president of the Inner Circle.
One points to an early spring and the other proclaims six more weeks of winter.
These scrolls are placed during the ceremony on a stump, and after Phil is
awakened by the gathered crowd of onlookers,  the bestirred critter allegedly
 "speaks" to the president of the Inner Circle in "Groundhogese", who is then
"directed" by Phil to open the proper scroll for the right weather prediction.

I wonder if even Dr. Doolittle would be able to translate what Phil
might really be saying after being unceremoniously dragged from
 his cozy bed and out into the cold by a bunch of curious humans.
   I can almost guarantee that the first words uttered by the wakened 
Whistlepig have absolutely nothing to do with predicting the weather!
 

Groundhog Day celebrations are said to have come from both Celtic and
Germanic pagan traditions, which claim that if a hibernating animal casts 
a shadow on February 2nd, winter weather will last another six weeks.
If no shadow is seen, spring will come early in the year.

In Germany, a Christian celebration called Candlemas is held on the
second of February with a very similarly-held belief that if a hedgehog
would cast its shadow today, it will snow all the way into May.

When German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania, they brought
this tradition with them, only they replaced hedgehogs with
groundhogs.  Today several other towns in the region 
celebrate similar Groundhog Day events.