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Groundhog Day Explained

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0:00February is home to one of the most important holidays of the year not to forget: Groundhog

0:04Day.

0:05If you live outside of Can-merica then you might not know what a groundhog is so...

0:08here you go: this is a groundhog.

0:10They're basically giant grumpy squirrels who dig burrows underground.

0:13Burrows large enough, in fact, to occasionally make their comfy home a structural hazard

0:16to your comfy home.

0:18This explains the first half of their name.

0:19The second half is because they're kind of fat -- though unlike their fellow Can-mericans

0:23-- when winter arrives they need their excess weight to go into hibernation.

0:26The story of the holiday is that on February 2nd the wise groundhogs wake from hibernation

0:30to peek out of their burrow and look at the world.

0:32If they see their shadow they go back inside which predicts six more weeks of winter.

0:35If they don't, then spring will come early.

0:37The holiday started in the 1800s as a Pennsylvania Dutch custom of weather prediction and today

0:41is celebrated in Canada and 49 of the fifty states, the exception being Alaska which in

0:452009 decided to forgo groundhog day in favor of marmot day.

0:49Outside of Alaska, many groundhogs contend with each other to be the King of Seasonal

0:52Weather prediction their their main weapon in this war being their delightful names such

0:55as:

0:56Queen Charlotte and Sir Walter Wally in North Carolina,

0:58Shubenacadie Sam of Nova Scotia

0:59Staten Island Chuck from New York

1:00French Creek Freddie in West Virginia

1:02And...

1:03Gus from Athens Georgia though this last groundhog is somewhat overshadowed by his neighbor,

1:06General Beauregard Lee, who one must assume has stylish facial hair and fans himself on

1:11the veranda of his plantation home while drinking Mint Julep and pining for the day when the

1:14south will rise again.

1:161,000 miles north of the General, Wiarton Willie is the groundhog king of Canada, who

1:19throws an annual party to help him stay on top and make sure that people keep building

1:22epic statues of him.

1:24But, if there could be only one, Punxsutawney Phil would be him.

1:27Not only is his name the most fun to say but he also has quite a posse of top-hatted, tuxedoed

1:31men who look after him and call themselves the inner circle.

1:34According to them, Punxsutawney Phil has been making predictions since the 1880s.

1:37Not a Punxsutawney Phil, mind you, but this Punxsutawney Phil who is functionally immortal

1:41because of a magic life-extending elixir the inner circle members prepare for him so that

1:45he can continue to make predictions -- and bring in tourist revenue -- until the end

1:48of time.

1:49He also speaks a language called groundhogese that only the president of the inner circle

1:52can understand.

1:53If you think that Groundhog day is a dumb, pointless holiday then, there are two things

1:56you should consider:

1:571st: you have no sense of fun and 2nd, you better be careful on Groundhog day, because

2:01in addition to their weather predicting day jobs, these groundhogs also have the magical

2:04power to trap you in a infinite time loop until you learn to be less of a jerk.

2:08Happy Groundhog Day�