Friday, February 02, 2007

a message from willie

well, today is groundhog day! in canada, our mascot for this event is called wiarton willie, an ontario albino groundhog. unfortunately willie is deceased but lives on through "wee willie".

willie predicts an early spring!

this article gives some more info about willie and says that, groundhog day was inspired by the old scottish couplet:
"If Candlemas Day is bright and clear/ There'll be two winters in the year."
the origins of this observance are actually quite old......

groundhog day, something unique to canada and the united states, is based on a superstition that if the groundhog shows his face and doesn't see his shadow, an early spring will follow.

for everything groundhog day related, look here. screensavers and greeting cards?? ok......

happy groundhog day!

8 comments:

Beenzzz said...

Happy Groudhog Day to you too, BB!

ServesYouRight said...

BB - that is one cute ground hog :-D
Smita

ML said...

Happy Groundhog Day!!

Emily DeVoto, Ph.D., said...

Cool - Punxsatawney Phil in Pennsylvania agrees with Willie, by the way... Happy GH Day!

Jihan said...

Canada has alot of interesting holidays, but not alot are national Holidays, in my country I think we have like 26 National Holidays, and if the holiday fall on a Sunday, automatically Monday is also a Holiday, because since business dont open on Sunday, we take Monday. Its kinda fun, we have Holidays for anything. And on Wednesday afternoons Business dont open either. When I first came to Canada. I kept forgetting that Shops still open on Sundays and Libraries and stuff, since in our country its like a day off, but just in our Region though, in the City its different.

burekaboy — said...

beenzzz & ml - happy ghd, back! :)

smita - hey there :) how goes it? until i saw his picture, i never realized he was an albino one! he is actually cute :D

emily - i swear, i'd never be able to spell that word on my own for phil's city name. sounds like it's some native american name for the area. HGD :))

pj - i think the americans have a national holiday every single month as compared to us.

interesting that your original country has so many holidays; wonder why things are closed wednesday afternoons?

it was only in recent years that stores are open on sundays. i remember not so long ago when everything was shut down. i like it better the way it is now.

Jihan said...

lol good question, I never wondered it myself, my uncle had a shop, and they does only be happy that the can get to sleep... Most people are happy to be home...
But schools and banks, and rum shops does be open. I asked my cuz in Guyana to find out...

Most people who have business take the time to sleep. I like it better when shop is open on Sundays too, I am still a bit confused sometime that the close early on weekends, and food shops open later here too. One time I went to popeyes walked all that way only to find out it was closed... and will be opening till 11 am. It was sad, since I was so hungry for Chicken...

burekaboy — said...

PJ - will be interesting to hear what your cousin says.... i would have thought it was the same throughout the whole country.

some cities have 24 hour grocery stores!! it used to be annoying when everything was closed on sundays but i guess since the church is no longer as influential as it used to be in canada, the laws have changed.