Prince George, B.C. – What could be wackier than holding onto the faint hope that the Vancouver Canucks will win a Stanley Cup in the forseeable future?

Well, how about a bunch of grown people standing around a hole waiting for the largest member of the squirrel family to pop out in the belief the critter can accurately predict the length of time remaining in the winter.  That’s right, it’s Groundhog Day, an occasion celebrated on this date each year, but only in North America.

The belief is that the groundhog comes out of its hole following its winter hibernation and, if it’s cloudy, spring will come early and the critter can look forward to remaining above ground.   However, if it is sunny and the groundhog sees its shadow, it means six more weeks of winter and the groundhog has to retreat into its underground home to wait out the bad weather.

The Groundhog Day celebration has its origins in European folklore and was brought to North America as a Pennsylvania German custom in the 1800s.  The Pennsylvania festival features a creature known as Punxsutawney Phil, but there are several other festivals, each with its own star mascot, in many other states in the US.   And of course back in Wiarton, Ontario, Wiarton Willie was the star of the show every February 2nd until 2006, when he went to that big groundhog playground in the sky.  Not to worry though, because they have new replacement Willies to carry on the weather prognostication tradition each year.

There has been quite an effort to popularize and commercialize the Groundhog Day celebration in the United States of America and who knows, you may one day see big box store shelves adorned with all kinds of groundhog merchandise the day after the Boxing Day Week sales are over.

Supposed to be cloudy this morning, some sunny breaks this afternoon.