Okay hi everybody and welcome back to weekly words. My name is Alisha and today we are
going to talk about a holiday. So let’s get right into it. Today’s holiday is Groundhog Day.
Groundhog Day, I am just going to read all of the key information here. It is celebrated
on February 2nd and according to folklore if it’s cloudy when a Groundhog which is
a small mammal that lives in the ground comes out from its burrow, comes out from its home
in the ground, then spring will come early. If it’s sunny supposedly according to the
legend, the Groundhog will see its shadow and then will go back into its burrow back
into its home and winter will continue for another six weeks. So that’s kind of the
somewhat strange legend. I am not sure exactly what the origin of this story is but that’s
Groundhog Day.
All right, a word about Groundhog day is of course Groundhog. A Groundhog has a few different
names. Here it mentions woodchuck whistlepig, that’s interesting or land-beaver. Anyway
yeah they are mammals, they are rodents essentially. They look kind of like I don’t know big
rats with not ratty tales. That’s a terrible picture like right here somewhere hollow Groundhog,
I don’t know, okay. Oh there is this really famous internet video, very, very brief, 5
seconds long of a creature such as this, such as this Groundhog looking at the camera. I
don’t know. Maybe this is what people expect that the Groundhog does if it sees its shadow,
maybe. In a sentence, if a groundhog sees its shadow on Groundhog Day, supposedly there
will be six more weeks of winter.
And the next word is Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is in this list I believe because this is
the place – what’s the name of the city? Punxsutawney is in Pennsylvania, it’s supposedly
the place where they have their official like Groundhog Day ceremony. There is a famous
Groundhog I think that lives there. Phil, that’s it, I knew sort of the P, I wanted
to say Paul but not right. That’s actually what we named one of the rock chicks. My family
can verify this. We had a rock chick named Paul, maybe a few. Anyway, so Pennsylvania
Punxsutawney is the city where all the official Groundhog day celebrations are held. If you
go to Pennsylvania for Groundhog day, you might find some very interesting celebration.
So check out.
Next is Bill Murray. Bill Murray is an actor perhaps you’ve seen a Bill Murray movie.
Bill Murray is in this list because he made a famous movie called Groundhog Day. Well,
I will let you watch the movie but he is the main character in the movie and a series of
very interesting things happen to him surrounding the holiday Groundhog Day. He plays a reporter
who is in the city where they are having the Groundhog Day celebration. I really liked
Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day.
Next, the next word is meteorology. Why is meteorology in this list, the scientific study…Ah
what! Oh so the next word on this list is meteorology. This is just a kind of contrast
with what Groundhog Day really is. A point here that says the Groundhogs have made accurate
predictions about the length of winter only about 39% of the time. Meteorology on the
other hand, the scientific study of atmospheres and weather patterns might be a more reliable
way to determine if winter is going to continue or not. In a sentence, the study of meteorology
is important to determining weather forecast for the week.
All right, onward end. That’s the end? Anyway, riveting information about Groundhog Day,
check out the Bill Murray movie if you haven’t seen it already. It’s entertaining even
if you are not particularly interested in this holiday and on February 2nd, yeah maybe
you should keep an eye out on your local Burrow dwelling mammals. Okay thanks for joining
us this week. I hope you learned something exciting about Groundhog Day and we will see
you again next time, bye. Okay kids, put your Groundhog costumes on. Let’s go burrow in
the field. Anybody see their shadow? Jimmy saw a shadow. Oh back inside winter. If I were a teacher,
that’s what I would do for my students.