Year’s shortest month touts the ‘snow’ moon and winter’s brightest stars
Almost everyone* knows that Feb. 2 is Groundhog Day, in which, at various locations around the world, people gather to see if a large indigenous rodent sees its shadow at sunrise. This quaint ritual then indicates whether there will be an early spring. This tradition started among German-speaking people in northern Europe, who developed folklore about badgers emerging from their dens to forage. If the badger saw its shadow, it portended an extended winter. This tradition came to North America with the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch, who replaced the badger with the common woodchuck, or groundhog.
*Includes you, right?
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