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Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day
 
 
Oh it’s just a quaint and innocent tradition dealing with the changing of the seasons, right?
 
 
Ground Hog Day (Feb. 2nd) falls on the Pagan Calendar as Imbolic; when daylight first makes significant progress against the night. We all know that according to folklore and tradition, if it’s cloudy when the groundhog emerges from its den on this day and the groundhog fails to see its shadow, then the spring weather will come early, sometime before the vernal equinox; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and winter weather will continue for another six weeks.

 
So Why and Ground Hog?
 
 
“The transition of Candlemas and other ancient celebrations to Groundhog Day dates back to the time of the Roman conquest of Northern Europe: the Christian celebration of Candlemas was associated with songs like this one:

If Candlemas be fair and bright
Come, winter, have another flight
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, 
Go, winter, and come not again.

This practice of divining the weather on this day spread to Germany, and was brought to this country by some of its first German settlers, also known as Pennsylvania Dutch: hence the location of the most famous groundhog. Also, the groundhog (also known affectionately as a woodchuck) was not the original prototypical weather-divining creature: in Europe it was a hedgehog. But early American settlers were nothing if not adaptable, and so the local creature most closely resembling a hedgehog was chosen for this ritual. Like hedgehogs, groundhogs are no-nonsense, practical animals; the same can be said for bears and badgers, who were also associated with weather divination in European folklore. If a groundhog sees his shadow on the 2nd, some inner sense tells him it's not spring yet (does he feel the chill in the air most clear winter days have? or is the sunny day from an early thaw, which often presages a return to wintry weather?) --and he hightails it back to his burrow. Likewise, humans observe midwinter as a milestone, a moment which is on the cusp of change, between the harsh, cold winds of winter and the fragrant, sensual breezes of spring.” -
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usma&c=holidays&id=2635
 
 
Notice the quote above is from a witchcraft website! Should there be any doubt this is not a holiday Believers in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) should give attention to? But leave it to the Catholics to turn it into a “Christian” holiday.
 
 
Imbolic is also known in the Catholic Tradition as Candlemas:
 
“Candlemas is a very old holiday with a Christian-Pagan history. Its Christian version is called the Purification of the Virgin and is the end/culmination of the forty day period after Mary God-Bearer had her baby on December 25.  Women had to wait forty days after childbirth before entering a church or Temple again due to "uncleanliness". This waiting period is still observed in Eastern Orthodox Christian churches today, and all Christian churches schedule the Christening for forty days after the birth in keeping with this ancient purification practice. Therefore today is Yeshua’s Christening or Naming Day when an exorcism is performed and the baby formally enters the Church.
This special forty-day period in the Christian calendar is one of four such in the esoteric Church year.  The other three forty-day periods are:  Fall Equinox  (Sept 21) to Halloween/All Saints Day (Oct. 31, Nov.1), Spring Equinox (Mar 21)  to May Day (May 1) and of course, Lent.  Lent is the forty-day period beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday every year.  
Candlemas is a church “adaptation” of a pagan goddess holiday called Imbolc where people light candles to banish dark spooks. Candlemas is celebrated on the same day as that pagan holiday, February 2nd. The word Imbolc, variously spelled Imbolg, Oimelc and Imelg, means “ewe-milk” because this is the time lambs were born in old England, Ireland and most of Europe thus bringing back the flow of ewe’s milk. -- https://northernway.org/school/way/calendar/candlemas.html