Evening star., 1936-02-01
February the Second
Has Long Been Famous
AS Seasonal Indicator
Legend With Which We Are Most Familiar
Is Believed to Have Been Brought to
This Country From Germany.

stole lovely PTo0eTplne, ana neI motucI
sought her In the darkness with
candles, the Romans, at the beginning
Of the month, walked the streets with
lighted candles. Following their gen.
eral rule of allowing as many Of the
pagan customs to be retained as was
compatible with the dignity Of the
Christian church, the early prelates
ordained that the Christians should
carry about with them candles in honor
of the Blessed Virgin. Thus the feast,
which began as tribute to Ceres,
mother Of Proserpine, became . solemn
celebration of homage to the Mother
Of Christ.
In the England Of the Middle Ages
the observance of Candlemas day was
a favored event. and was particularly
designated as the time for the taking
down of all Christmas wreaths and
greens. But Candlemas day every
where has long been especially noted
for its many and varied forms Of
weather prognostications-and, what IS
particularly interesting is that in al.
most every instance these prognostica-
tions. like dreams. were alleged to 60
by contraries. Thus fine weather on
Candlemas day foretold q period Of
unreasonable cold, while foul weather
indicated bright, early Spring, with
lovely Summer to follow.
A S FAR as We can ascertain, Mr..
Grounding first entered the pic
ture in Germany. where he appeared
in the person Of his cousin, the badger,
who was watched to see what his ac-
tions would be on February 2. II the
badger came out Of his hole, and found
snow. he walked abroad; If, On the
other hand, the sun shone, he would
retire to his hole and sleep again.
AS the badger is not well known in
the United States east of the Mis-
sissippi. the legend, brought to this
country by German settlers, was
transferred to the family tree Of the
grounding. or woodchuck. Farmers
in the Middle West gave the name of
Grounding day to Candlemas, and
their story is the one that we all know
BEST This is the day when the ground
hog awakes from his alternating sleep,
stretches himself and comes out Of his
hole to look the situation over. If
the sun IS shining, and Mr.. Ground
hog observes his shadow measuring its
length on the earth beside him, he
hurries back to .lis hole and takes
another snooze, knowing in some
occult manner that six more weeks
of wintry weather are to rage above
ground. If. however, the sky is cloudy
and the sun obscured, so that he is
not insulted by that clinging shadow,
he knows that bedtime is over and
Immediately sets about polishing him
self up for warm, early Spring.
ONE is led to wonder. in an idle
moment, just what is the secret
Of the groundhog's success in the
matter-for Of all old, established
customs connected with the foretelling
of weather at this time Of the year, he
remains most firmly embedded in the
hearts and superstitions of the Amer
ican people Many Of US scoff and
say "Pcoh!"-but there are very few
of US who do not take sneaking in
terest along about noon on February 2
as to whether Mr.. Grounding gets
that look at his duplicate or not. OF
late the gentleman in the fur coat has
been a bit loath to pose for his pic
ture-in fact, he hasn't seemed to
have much interest in making his ap-
pearance at all. Perhaps the modern
age has got him.: his nose has been
disjointed by the scientific weather
prophecies broadcast and published
far and wide; maybe he feels that his
Importance has diminished, and the
machine age no longer needs his feel
ng-it-in-the- tips Of his whiskers"
type Of knowledge.
Like grandfather's dofhng Of long,
red underwear depended upon the
blooming Of the SNOWFALL bush in the
back yard, belief In Mr.. Grounding Is
fading under the pitiless rays Of SCI
ence's light. Don't let him 60 en-
tirely-humanity has lost too many
fancies in the maze Of facts!