Winter is waning

Candlemas or Imbolc - a celebration of fire

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What a pleasant thought that is.  As you all know (at least all of you in the US) February 2 is Groundhog Day.  This is also the same as the pagan holiday Candlemas or Imbolc that predicts how much more winter there will be before spring bursts forth.

We all know that the groundhog emerges from his burrow to predict spring.  Here is a pagan poem that says the same thing:

If Candlemas is fair and bright,

winter has taken flight.

When Candlemas brings clouds and rain, 

winter shall not come again.

Punxatawney Phil

The original animal used for this tradition was the serpent.  When the settlers came to Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century in the new world (Amercia), they picked the groundhog, a local animal,  to carry on the tradition.