My Favorite

It's my favorite holiday -- Groundhog Day!

Yes, i do mean it.

No big celebration to plan, since i don't live in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

No gifts to buy, no cake to bake, no special meal to plan.

In fact, i'm serving tacos for dinner.

All you have to do in order to enjoy this very easy, very fun, and rather silly holiday, is listen for the ground hog report and smile.

No fuss, all enjoyment, no matter what the prediction.


Today is:

Anniversary of Treaty of Tartu -- Estonia

Bonza Bottler Day

Brigmid -- Druid Calendar, also called Feast of Imbolc, celebrated later as St. Bridget's Day, but originally a festival for Brigid, (also known as Brighid, Bríde, Brigit, Brìd) goddess of poetry, healing, and smithcraft. It is always halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, so some years it is on Feb. 1 with St. Brigid's Day

Candlemas -- Christian -- or Presentation of Our Lord (f/k/a the Purification of the Virgin Mary) - commemorates the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and purification of Mary on the 40th day after the birth of Jesus. Candles have been blessed on this day since the 11th century, and this was the original forecaster, “If Candlemas is fair and clear, there’ll be two winters in the year.”

Cordova Ice Worm Festival -- Cordova, AK, US (through the 5th; one of Alaska's zaniest winter festivals)

Dia de la Candelaria/Virgin of Candelaria -- Mexico; Spain

Groundhog Day

Hedgehog Day

Hromnice -- Czech Republic (hrom = thunder, a weather forecasting day)

Inventors' Day -- Thailand

La Fete de la Chandeleur -- Canada; France

Matka Boska Gromniczna (Mother of God of the Blessed Thunder Candle) -- Poland

National Heavenly Hash Day

Serpent Day -- Celtic (The tradition was that on this day, the Brigmid, snakes or badgers would come out of their winter dens and predict the weather; perhaps a precursor to North America's Groundhog Day.)

Sled Dog Day -- for Balto

St. Cornelius the Centurion's Day (the Cornelius converted by St. Paul in the Book of Acts)

Triodion -- Orthodox Christian

Veja Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (day of wind)

Wand Dedication Day -- Fairy Calendar

Wives' Feast Day -- Northern England (ancient celebration in association with Imbolc)

World Wetlands Day -- International


Anniversaries Today:

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) marries Olivia Langdon in Elmira, NY, 1870


Birthdays Today:

Shakira, 1977
Michael T. Weiss, 1962
Christie Brinkley, 1954
Farah Fawcett, 1947
Graham Nash, 1942
David Jason, 1940
Tom Smothers, 1937
Les Dawson, 1934
Stan Getz, 1927
James Dickey, 1923
Ayn Rand, 1905
James Joyce, 1882
Solomom R. Guggenheim,1861
Toyotomi Hideyoshi,1536 (Japan's second "great unifier")


Today in History:

Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates The Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum) a collection of Roman law, 506
Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1536
New Amsterdam (later New York) is incorporated as a city, 1653
The first leopard is exhibited in the US, in Boston (admission 25 cents), 1802
Russian settlers establish the Ft. Ross trading post north of San Francisco, 1811
Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral afire, does £60,000 damage, 1829
The first Chinese workers arrive in San Francisco, 1848
The first public men's toilet in Britain opens, on Fleet Street in London, 1852
Samuel Clemens uses the pen name Mark Twain for the first time, 1863
James Oliver invents the removable tempered steel plow blade, 1869
The SS Strathleven arrives in London with the first frozen mutton imported from Australia, 1880
The Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven, Connecticut, 1882
The first official Groundhog Day is observed in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, 1887
The bottle cap with cork seal is patented by William Painter of Baltimore, 1892
The longest boxing match under modern rules takes place in Nameoki, Illinois; 77 rounds between Harry Sharpe and Frank Crosby, 1892
The first movie close-up, of a man sneezing, is made at the Edison Studio in West Orange, NJ, 1893
The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne, 1899
Queen Victoria's funeral takes place, 1901
Musher Gunner Kaasan and his sled team, led by Balto, finish the serum run from Nenana to Nome, Alaska, delivering the much needed diphtheria medication (inspiration for the Iditarod), 1925
Leonarde Keeler tests the first polygraph machine, 1935
The Groundhog Day gale hits the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada, 1976
F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to function legally and promises to release Nelson Mandela, 1990