Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-01
OUT OF MS HOLE TOMORROW
MR.. GROUND HOG WILL LOOK
FOR HIS SHADOW.
To Settle Weather Question for the
Net Six Weeks-Candlemas
Day, Too.

| If any one can figure why there should
| be connection between the American
ground hog and Candlemas day in the
! Roman Church, he can come forward
with the explanation. The fact remains
| that the dates are the same. and that
| date comes tomorrow. February 2.
That is the day when winter is sup
posed to be half over. That also is the
| day when the ground hog decides whether
the winter is going to continue or whether
it shall be cut off short.
Probably the most people would not
recognize ground hog if they met him
walking down the street, and for the
benefit of such IMMERSED persons The
Star reporter, who is fresh from consulta-
ton with the Century Dictionary, can
state that the ground hog is really the
American marmOt, otherwise the wood
chuck. In more formal terms he can be
accurately referred to as Arctomys mo-
max, but 1t is only in scientific discourse
that he insists on Greek derivatives.
Candlemas is the day on which the
candles for use in the church throughout
the rest of the year are blessed. and there
Is procession in the church for this
ceremony. It used to be that it was not
considered good luck to keep candles over
that day. and what were left of the fall
making, this being in the days when every
household made Its own candles, were
thrown away and a fresh supply provid-
ed. There were not usually many can
dies left over, and finally it came to be
the custom on that date to comply with
the superstition by throwing one candle
or piece of one out of the window and
breaking an old candlestIck. This GUS
tom is referred to in theold couplet:
80 On Candlemass day
Candles and candlesticks throw away
Just where the woodchHck or ground
hog boarded the train is shrouded in myS-
terry. 1t is generally admitted that the
corruption Of the Creek name
.'otchock." The first pioneers in the west
ern part of New York found the animal
and the name and corrupted it to wood
purposes, besides being descriptive.
Whether the ground hog held any place
in the Indian church calendar is not
clear, but the early settlers depended on
him as a weather prophet.
He was supposed to come out of his
burrow February 2, and If the day
were cloudy and overcast he would stay
out. but il 1t were a bright day and he
caught sight Of his shadow it was all
off with the good weather. G. Hog, ESQ.,,
diVed back underground and there was
over month more of bad weather. In
the words of the poem he was supposed
to shudder when he caught sight of his
shadow
And he cried, "Out too soon,
! must back to my hole
And for six weeks thereafter twas showing
OF course, you can watch for the Sc
quence of events this year, and If Feb
ruary is sunny and the following six
weeks are bad you can be sure that the
ground hog did see his shadow. But IT
the facts and the tradition do not fit,
then you can assume that the day was
overcast just where the ground hog made
his appearance, or that there was not
enough shadow for him to notice Any
how, he is way-up good weather proph-
ct, and If Prof. Willis Moore does not
keep him on his staff as an auxiliary,
then so much the worse for the weather
bureau.