It's Groundhog Day! (well, almost)

So, tomorrow is February 2nd better known as Groundhog's Day. As you may know, I am from Punxsutawney, PA the thriving metropolis of 6000 people were this holiday takes place. And, if you don't know this about me either you never spoke to me before or are possibly dead to me. I figured I would impart some wisdom upon you about Punxsutawney and this holiday of holidays upon which my entire town's economy survives (and I'm by NO means making an exaggeration here). So, take these fun facts and impress (or in most cases horrify) your co-workers and fellow students tomorrow....

-Punxsutawney is a Native American word for "Town of the Sandflies" -- yes, it is built on swampy land around a creek.

-If you want to blend in with the locals (and for god sakes, who doesn't??), don't call it Punxsutawney but rather Punxs'y (pronounced Punks-ee).

-The holiday actually began in Germany as "Candlemas Day" on which they looked for a badger to predict the weather. Having found no badgers in Western PA when the immigrated here, they used the next best thing, a groundhog (ah, the Germans, just another thing for which you can thank these fun loving people)

-When the holiday was "revived" by some "businessmen" in the late 1800s, they actually took the day to hunt and EAT the groundhog (apparently it tastes like chicken). Luckily, they soon realized that it would maybe be a better holiday if it didn't center around eating a large squirrel.

-The guy that pulls Phil out of his stump is named Bill and he is a mortician (no, really I'm serious).

-Phil tells his forcast by speaking in "Groundhog-ese". I would tell you what this sounds like however, I am not fluent in this melodic language.

-The only way to become a member of the Inner Circle (the guys with the top hats) is to have someone die or retire. Its pretty much like the Supreme Court except the Supreme Court has had 2 more woman on it than in the history of the Inner Circle.

-The place where Phil's stump is known as "Gobbler's Knob" and is about 1/2 mile from my house (you can actually hear the festivities from my front lawn at 4:45 am). So, funny story side bar.... My senior year of high school I hosted a foreign exchange student for one day (yes, one day) for Groundhog's Day. Essentially we ship them in from all around the area to show them the great American festivity of Groundhog Day (what a great way to taint their view of the USA). Anyways, when I told him about "Gobbler's Knob" there was an awkward conversation that followed regarding how it has nothing to do with the sexual euphanisms both of those words imply. Ah, the beauty of American slang gone horribly wrong.

-The other 364 days of the year, Phil lives with his wife Phyllis in the Groundhog Zoo located conveniently in the public library. For some reason I am the only one who doesn't find this horribly strange.

-Every summer there is a Groundhog Picnic where they give Phil a "Groundhog Punch" to make him live longer. Essentially, they get the groundhog drunk. Shhh, don't tell PETA!

-On a personal note, I actually had a pet groundhog as a child. They gave one to each family of the Inner Circle members (of whom my dad used to be one). Ah, this is a great idea, children and wild animals -- rabies anyone??? Anyways, his name was Buddy but unfortunately we had to give him back because he was not eating well. My sisters actually cried on this day.

-The movie was filmed in Woodstock, Illinois NOT Punxs'y. So NOTHING looks like it does in the move, so GET OVER IT! Funny side bar #2....They had a special premiere for the movie for our town. However, our town did not have a movie theater to show it so we had to have it at the closest theater -- 20 miles away!

-The same way NYC had those cows all over the place and DC had the pandas/elephants/donkeys, we have giant groundhogs. Most actually look pretty nice and when we get a new one it literally makes the front page of the newspaper.

-Incidently Groundhog's Day is about 6 weeks from the first day of Spring. So don't go ruining this scam for us!

That's all I can come up with for now, but there are probably countless other stories. I hope this gives you more insight into both Groundhog Day and me. Now can you see how I turned out coming from a town where there is an image of a groundhog every 5 feet, where you get your groceries at the Groundhog Plaza, where the high school mascot is the Punxs'y Chuck (short for woodchuck), and where I have attended this event every year from 5th to 12th grade and then once in college.