Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day is another holiday celebrated mostly in the United States and Canada. It is also common in Australia and is usually celebrated on the 2nd of February. The tradition on this day is to watch the behavior of a groundhog coming out of its burrow. This is a traditional way of determining whether the spring will come soon or not, though the animal's prediction may not be true to life and it has actually been so for a couple of years already. The principle of determining the weather in the nearest future by watching the groundhog is simple: if there's no sunshine the animal will come out of its nest calmly without fearing anything – the winter will end soon and the spring will come early. If the weather is sunny, the groundhog will see its own shadow and be frightened by it and will go back to its burrow. That means that the winter is going to stay for a while, approximately for six months. The whole tradition has become the basis for various celebrations and festivities held on this occasion, which attracts not only locals, but also tourists from all over the world. In some cases groundhogs become local or even national heroes, gathering crowds of people, as well as politicians and various officials. In the USA ihe most famous are the following meteorologist groundhogs: Wiarton Willie, Staten Island Chuck, Punxsutawney Phil, General Beauregard Lee Shubenacadie Sam, Jimmy the Groundhog and Balzac Billy.
The tradition of observing animals' behaviour and determining what the weather will be comes from the Western Europe, namely Germany, where the groundhog's role was played by the badger.