Hello, this is pastor gary from first baptist church of laplata. On this date in 1887, the first Groundhog Day was celebrated in Punxsutawney, PA. That was 135 years ago which means that Punxsutawney Phil, the famous prognosticating groundhog, is at least 135 years old! February 2nd to March 20, the first day of Spring, is 6 weeks—halfway between Winter solstice and the Spring equinox. No matter what Phil prognosticates, there will be at least 6 weeks of winter left on the calendar. Groundhog Day was originally called Candlemas. The tradition was that if it was cloudy on Candlemas, winter would be shortened; if it was sunny on Candlemas, winter would persist. Also, people noticed that groundhogs and other hibernating animals emerged from their borrows around this time of the year. Combining tradition with nature gave us a groundhog whose shadow–or lack thereof–determines the next six weeks of weather. How accurate is Punxsutawney Phil? Phil is only right about 39% of the time which is less accurate than the weatherman; the difference is that Phil is just for fun—the weatherman gets paid a handsome salary to be wrong about half of the time! God created the systems that make weather, and they do exactly what He has designed them to do. Genesis 8:22 reminds us, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Happy Groundhog Day!
Leave a Reply