Today is Groundhog Day.By the time you...

Today is Groundhog Day.

By the time you read this, Punxsutawney Phil will have already emerged from his home in Pennsylvania and made his prediction as to whether spring will be early this year.

* The story goes like this: The groundhog comes out of his hole after a long winter’s nap. If he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter; if he does not, spring will be early. Groundhog Day traces back to the early Christian celebration of Candlemas. Some trace Candlemas back to an earlier Celtic celebration called Imbolog, which marked the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

* Sure, there are other groundhogs with or without shadows in other towns, but Phil in Punxsutawney, Pa., is special. He lives in a special habitat at the Punxsutawney Library, where his special diet includes dog food and ice cream. (Phil weighs a hearty 15 pounds.) Every Feb. 2, Phil is uprooted and taken to Gobbler’s Knob, a wooded hillside outside town, where he is placed in a heated burrow under a fake tree stump on a stage. He’s then rudely pulled out at 7:25 a.m. to make his prediction. Such is the life of a celebrity.

* The town’s tradition of reporting on Phil dates from 1886. According to the Web site https://www.stormfax.com, since that time Phil has seen his shadow 90 times, has not seen his shadow 14 times and has not been sure nine times. Unfortunately, Phil’s success rate as a weather forecaster hovers at 39%.

* https://www.groundhogsday.com is the Web site of the Committee for the Commercialization of Groundhogs Day. Headquartered in Sherman Oaks, this outfit is dedicated to the exploitation of America’s most under-celebrated holiday. True to its stated goal, the Web site offers all kinds of Groundhog Day-related items--T-shirts, greeting cards, books, videos and CDs.