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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Phyllis Jestice, on Groundhog Day, wrote: >I discovered a few years ago that this is a German folk belief (not >associated with groundhogs), one of those handy reminders that an awful lot >of early immigrants in America were German: >"Ist's an Lichtmess hell und rein, >wird ein langer Winter sein" The official site for the "feast day" (and a holiday having an official site seems an odd notion in itself, although perhaps appropriate given the oddity of the matter celebrated) is at: http://www.groundhog.org/ A lamentably unfootnoted page on the history is a couple of links away at the same site: http://www.groundhog.org/history/tradition.shtml Those who lend credence to Punxsutawney Phil will probably be sorry to hear that he predicts another 6 weeks of winter. Meg added: >a groundhog is a >rodent, a bit smaller than a beaver. Correct, and more specifically _Marmota monax_, a member of family _Sciuridae_, and a fairly close relative of the ground squirrels and chipmunks. The "monax" refers to its characteristic squeal of warning to other members of its community when danger approaches; this is a common marmot trait. John ******* John McChesney-Young ** [log in to unmask] ** Berkeley, California, USA ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html