Punxsutawney Phil participates at the 135th Groundhog Day at Gobbler's Knob, in Pennsylvania. According to legend, the US can expect a further six weeks of winter, after the weather-predicting groundhog saw his shadow upon exiting his burrow.

Groundhog Day, celebrated across the United States and Canada, on February 2, is purely a North American tradition. It is based on a belief that on this day the groundhog, or woodchuck, comes out of his hole after winter hibernation to look for its shadow. If the shadow is seen, it’s a sunny day, and if not the groundhog foretells six more weeks of winter weather. If no shadow is seen due to cloudy weather, by our rodent friend spring is coming. The groundhog then behaves accordingly, going back into the hole if the weather turns bad, but stays above ground if spring is near.

This tradition was started when in 1723, the Delaware Indians settled Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania as a campsite halfway between the Allegheny and the Susquehanna Rivers. The Delawares considered groundhogs honorable ancestors. According to the original creation beliefs of the Delaware Indians, their forebears began life as animals on “Mother Earth” and emerged centuries later to hunt and live as men. The name Punxsutawney comes from the Indian name for the location “ponksad-uteney” which means “the town of the sandflies.” The name woodchuck comes from the Indian legend of “Wojak, the groundhog” considered by them to be their ancestral grandfather.

Groundhog Day (1993) is often considered to be among the greatest films of the 1990s and one of the greatest comedy movies It also had a significant impact on popular culture; the term Groundhog Day became part of the English lexicon as a means to describe a monotonous, unpleasant, and repetitive situation.

Phil: "Do you ever have deja vu, Mrs. Lancaster?" Mrs. Lancaster: "I don't think so, but I could check with the kitchen“.

Phil: "I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over and over and over?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film)



Phil: "I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over and over and over?"

Sounds good to me.

We could organise a 'Lads' holiday Longdogs when all this Covid nonsense settles down.....

You bring the woman, I'll bring the lobster.

I have a similar custom. I stick my head out of the upstairs window and if it's raining, it means that it will probably rain non-stop for the next six weeks. works every time.