What is groundhog day in a figurative sense. What does the expression "Groundhog Day" mean Groundhog Day what does this holiday mean

Groundhog Day has become so popular that it is celebrated all over North America. On this day, a lot of tourists from other countries come to Punxsutawney.

For the first time, Groundhog Day was celebrated in 1886 by residents of the small town of Punxsutawney in the US state of Pennsylvania, during which they wake up a groundhog that has slept all winter and make him guess the weather.

Over time, this joke day turned into a real show, headed by the governor.

Groundhog Day - refers to this type of holidays, the history of the origin of which is not only no longer remembered, but even the general majority of people celebrating it do not know. After all, now there are so many various holidays in the world, the true reason for which hardly anyone remembers, and often they don’t know or don’t remember what it means, and they interpret it in completely different ways.

Here in the United States of America and Canada, too, there is such an unusual holiday celebrated on February 2, and this holiday is Groundhog Day.

And the essence of this day is quite simple and lies in the fact that on this day you need to watch the groundhog waking up while hibernating.

By the way he behaves, you can find out how early spring will come this year. If the day is cloudy and the groundhog calmly crawls out of their minks, then winter is running out, spring will come soon and you can already prepare for spring work. If the day is sunny and the groundhog, seeing his shadow, again hides in a hole, then winter will continue for at least six weeks, that is, a month and a half.

Where this belief comes from is not known. According to one version, they say that it came from the Indians who lived in these parts for centuries, according to another, that this custom was brought by the Germans who immigrated to America. The tradition of predicting the weather forecast by the behavior of animals has existed for a long time. Even in ancient Rome, the forecast for the onset of spring was determined by the behavior of a hedgehog, which was awakened from hibernation. The inhabitants of Europe adopted this sign and probably. having moved to the American continent, they revived it there, since hedgehogs were not found there, the role of hedgehogs was transferred to the marmots living there. But be that as it may, this custom exists to this day, though in a slightly modified form.

Over the years, this holiday has turned into a real show, the main character of which is a groundhog.

The residents of the small provincial town of Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania succeeded in organizing Groundhog Day. The editor of a local newspaper organized the Groundhog Club in 1886, and thanks to his connections, many newspapers of neighboring states trumpeted this. Entrepreneurial Americans organized Groundhog Day as a ritual, which is now held every year. Almost the entire population of 10,000 Punxsutawney, led by the mayor, participates in this show. Moreover, thanks to the wide coverage of this event in the media, on this day many fans of fun from other cities, states, and in recent years tourists from other countries began to gather here.

The holiday "Groundhog Day" or as in the USA and Canada it is called "Groundhog Day" is carried out as follows. Early in the morning, people are pouring on Turkey Hill. Members of the Groundhog Club come here in tuxedos and top hats. For the convenience of interviewing a groundhog named Phil, they built a personal apartment in the form of a stump.

The chairman of the club pulls the half-asleep groundhog out of his apartment and, leaning towards him, "listens" to his predictions. What the groundhog whispers in secret to the chairman in the ear and how he translates the “forecast” from the groundhog language into English is of course not known, but, at the dictation of the chairman, the secretary writes down the entire forecast on paper and then announces it to all the people.

To increase the importance of the event, the marmot is shown to all the people, so that no one doubts that he is in good health and mind.

Sometimes the “weather forecast” of the groundhog is commented on for the press and broadcast through loudspeakers so that everyone present can hear.

After the official part of the holiday, people have fun. During this day, all the drinking establishments and restaurants of Punxsutawney receive almost a month's revenue. And if you take into account the fact that up to 50 thousand tourists come here, then you can imagine what kind of profit smart citizens get from this.

Thanks to Groundhog Day, the provincial Punxsutawney has become known throughout America. But this invented holiday would have remained in America if in 1993 director Harold Ramis hadn’t made the comedy Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell in the lead roles. The film was a resounding success, and what happens on February 2 at Turkey Hill in Punxutoni was known all over the world.

Since then, every year on February 2, people in many countries have been waiting for what the Pennsylvania groundhog will say, and this day has become almost a national holiday. Groundhog Phil was given the title of "Official National Weather Forecaster". Many famous artists and politicians began to come to the holiday in little Punksutoni. Phil's predictions began to be voiced on TV channels and on the radio. And in 1986, groundhog Phil was even taken to Washington for an audience with US President Ronald Reagan. In recent years, recordings of negotiations with a groundhog have been recorded by many on video and posted on the Internet. Phil himself has several "own sites".

Over time, many countries acquired their own marmots - predictors. These are Chuck the Groundhog from the Staten Island Zoo, Willie the Wyrton Groundhog, Sam the Shubinacad Groundhog, Billy the Balzac Groundhog, and a few more. But Punxsutawney Phil is the most titled.

But such congratulations on Groundhog Day are popular with lovers of this holiday:

Groundhog Day from Punxsutawney
I would like to wish
So that I can soon in the spring
Nature bestows upon us.
Thank you for the forecast
We are a famous groundhog.
The honor of the forecaster went to
A very cute animal.
I wish that on weekdays
You were winter, spring
Autumn and even summer
Charming, lively.
So that life is not like
On the famous film with groundhog
To bring joy
All friends, work, home.

We celebrate groundhog day
The guardian of the animal in the hole.
If we're lucky, we'll find out
About the time we are coming.
Let the weather be good
Not a topic to talk about.
There is no hard heart
If you can guess.

The Russians also decided not to lag behind and began to celebrate this day in Yekaterinburg. Although this is not realistic, because in Russia marmots wake up in April. And even more so in the Urals at this time, only a bear that woke up at the wrong time can get out of the lair.

By the way, earlier in Russia at fairs it was the clubfoot bear that was presented as a predictor. But in Russia there are other well-known signs about the weather. Day February 2 - Yefimiy. The old people say: If the sun shines on Yefimiy at noon, then wait for early spring, but if a snowstorm blows, then it will snow for a whole week. Well, in any case, whichever of the forecasts will come true anyway, so rejoice and have fun. As they say: if there is a reason, there will be a reason.

The tired “Today I’m just having some kind of groundhog day” can be heard from a person who has been doing some kind of monotonous and monotonous business for a long time, and it seems to be being done, but there is no end in sight to this activity, and time is like like it stopped.

What does the phrase "Groundhog Day" mean: the original version

Groundhog Day Groundhog Day) is an annual national holiday of residents of Canada and the United States, celebrated on February 2 and dedicated to the meeting of spring. It was on this day that the inhabitants of Punxsutawney (Pennsylvania, USA) gathered for the first time at 7.25 in the morning at Phil's sleeping marmot's mink and woke him up to predict whether spring would come soon or not. According to legend, in the event that the groundhog wakes up (and he wakes up, where can he go from the gathered crowd), looks out of the mink, is not afraid of his shadow and goes outside, then spring is almost on the threshold. And if a poor animal, after a forced wake-up, looks out, but gets scared and does not want to go out and predict something there (maybe it just didn’t get enough sleep or even “owl”), then this is interpreted as the fact that spring will still have to wait about 6 weeks . Currently, seven cities in the US and Canada have their own groundhog, but the Punxsutawney “mini-Cassandra” from Turkey Hill is considered the “reference”.

The appearance of an idiom

The expression "Groundhog Day" gained nominal and international distribution in 1993 after the release of the fantastic comedy of the same name with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, in which the action takes place just in Punxsutawney, where the main character gets stuck in the time loop of one such holiday. It was from that time that monotonous everyday life began to be called groundhog day, following one after another without a visible change in events, situations, characters, etc.

Curious fact. There are no less famous animals that were almost officially recognized as “predictors”, for example, the results of football or hockey games - the German octopus Paul and the Norwegian-Belarusian crab Petrovich, but films about them have not yet been made and names are not used as common nouns.

groundhog day- a traditional holiday for the United States and Canada, which has spread throughout the world. It is celebrated on February 2: a marmot is taken out of the hole for everyone to see, and by its behavior they determine when spring will come. The film “Groundhog Day” became a meme, where a meteorologist goes to shoot a TV report about this holiday, but finds himself in a time loop and lives the same day over and over again.

Origin

The tradition of celebrating the arrival of spring with animal observations dates back to the time of Ancient Rome. People watched the behavior of hedgehogs crawling out of holes after hibernation. If the animal behaved calmly, an early spring was predicted, and if it was frightened of its shadow and hid in a hole, the winter would still be long.

This tradition spread in Western Europe and especially in Germany - people watched badgers and bears. In the 18th century, German emigrants brought this tradition to North America, only to observe marmots.

Ceremonies with groundhogs began to be held on February 2, in 1882 Groundhog Day became an official holiday in the United States: people come specially to look at the animal and participate in street fairs.

Groundhog Day directed by Harold Ramis was released in 1993. Bill Murray played meteorologist Phil Connors, who was sent to film a TV report from Groundhog Day in a small town. The day did not set, and the next morning, February 2, it happened again. The film became very popular all over the world, in the US alone it grossed $70 million at the box office.

Meaning

In the literal sense, Groundhog Day is a holiday of spring, the day when the groundhog must come out of the hole after hibernation. It is believed that if the animal did not see its shadow, spring will come soon, and if it was frightened of its shadow and hid back into the mink, winter would last another six weeks.

But the film changed the understanding of this phrase. The groundhog day meme refers to a monotonous boring life, when each new day is no different from the previous one.

The world owes this holiday to the United States and Canada, where it is truly celebrated. In the rest of the world, people only know what Groundhog Day is and sometimes the history of the holiday. Celebrations take place annually on February 2, when people watch the groundhog crawl out of its hole, thus predicting the arrival of spring.

Groundhog Day: where predictions come from

For example, the Catholic Church on this day celebrates the Presentation of the Lord or the Tombs. Interestingly, this holiday (like many others) came from paganism, where it was considered the day of sacrifice to the god Perun.

However, the traditions of the pagan holiday are incredibly close to the concept of Groundhog Day: on the day of Thunderbolts, they also observed the weather. If the day turned out to be frosty, then warming is expected soon, and if it is warm outside on February 2, the harvest will be poor. A blizzard meant a long winter.

The most famous marmots predictors

The very first and most famous groundhog meteorologist was the founder of the holiday. He lived in Pennsylvania and his name was Phil, and the Americans came up with a whole title for him in a few lines, and the city of Punxsutawney was dubbed the "Weather Capital".

Canada also has its own hero - Willie from Wiarton. The groundhog is known for waking up exactly on February 2 every year, after which the owner of the animal (and part-time mayor) listens to the prediction that the groundhog whispers in his ear. After the mission is completed, the groundhog, yawning, returns to the hole. It is unlikely that the animal knows that a whole fan club has formed among Canadians, and that he has a personal website on the Internet that has won several awards ... Moreover, the largest groundhog sculpture also belongs to Willy, erected in 1995 by a Canadian sculptor, apparently also a member of the Wiarton Willie fan club...

Despite the inaccuracy of predictions, groundhogs are still revered both in the US and Canada, because people still want to believe in miracles, living in a modern dry world...