GROUNDHOG DAY IS EMBEDDED IN HISTORY

In the movie "Groundhog Day," Bill Murray plays an egotistical and knavish TV weatherman who becomes entrapped in a time warp in which every day is Groundhog Day. To his horror, he has to cover Punxsutawney Phil's me-and-my-shadow bit over and over and over.

We know that Groundhog Day well, but in the Christian tradition, Feb. 2 originally was a festival known as Candlemas Day.

On this day, the baby Jesus was presented in the temple and the Virgin Mary underwent the ritual of purification 40 days after the child's birth.

Jesus was to be the "Light to lighten the Gentiles," thus the celebration of Candlemas Day with candles.

Light plays a role in Groundhog Day as well. If Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow Sunday in Pennsylvania, six more weeks of wintry weather are supposed to follow before spring shows up.

The folklore behind Groundhog Day holds that an animal seeing its shadow will be frightened back into its burrow for six more weeks. The tradition was brought to America by European settlers. In Great Britain and France, bears are the animals consulted; in Germany it is the badger.

"If Candlemas be fair and clear, two winters will you have this year," goes an old Scottish saying. American pioneers called February the "second winter" because winter often is over by this date in Europe.

In the U.S., Candlemas traditionally ushers in the coldest weather of the winter and became a date when farmers tried to predict how bad the worst would be.

"Half the wood and half the hay, you should have on Candlemas Day," another old saying goes. It meant about half a farmer's winter store should be used up by this date.

One problem with the Groundhog Day ritual as it has evolved as a photo opportunity is that groundhogs hibernate until March in the U.S., as a rule. Punxsutawney Phil has been known to bite when rousted out of his burrow for the purpose of predicting the weather for us.

Candlemas coincides with the Aztec New Year, and is still celebrated in many countries. In Spain, children bring a special bread and two live doves to Mass because the Virgin Mary brought two doves to the temple.

The symbol for Candlemas is a hand holding a lighted torch, inspiring the earth to get through the remaining winter.

Groundhogs aren't the only harbingers of spring in folklore. Country folks say the sound of the first frogs signals that the frost finally is out of the ground.

Or you can wake up a groundhog.