What is Groundhog Day?

Since today is February 2, that seems to be the pressing question, at least to those of us who have heard of Puxsutawny Phil.  What exactly is Groundhog Day, and what does it really mean?

Well it turns out that the Groundhog Day celebration is rooted in a German superstition that says if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says, spring will come early.   I thought this was quite interesting, and a little different from what I always believed:  "if the groundhog sees his shadow, winter will last another six weeks; if he doesn't, spring is six weeks away." Hey according to what I thought the theory was, he's always right.  I believe that the statisticians give our Phil a 39% accuracy rating, they aren't very good betting odds.   More to nullify his point, I have seen so many spring flowers well ahead of where they should be on February 2...

He saw his shadow this morning, so that means six more weeks of winter in groundhog speak, and ancient German traditions.  At 60 Degree February days, I'll take it anyway you slice it!