As it is Groundhog Day, but also at Maison Brillig the obscure Day of K1 Leaves For France On Friday, I hope it’s OK if I recycle a bit of previously researched material from Groundhog Days Past, but at the end there’s something new if you’ve an eidetic memory and the republished bits are too familiar. Toss your Iowa stuff over there, grab your NH material down the hall, and follow me below the dingledoodle Story Break, after a word from our sponsor…
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February 2nd is a day of several holidays:
Candlemas: I don't remember Candlemas, aka the Feast of Presentation of the Lord post-Vatican II, as a major holiday during my Roman Catholic youth, although I'm sure it was. Other holidays and rituals caught my attention, and noting the day Mary was officially "purified" and therefore able to present her son to the Temple nudged at my budding feminist sense, so I'm sure I repressed it :-).
Imbolc: While I've never identified solely with the pagan/earthcentered tradition as a spiritual path, it is one of the sources my Unitarian Universalist faith looks to for wisdom and meaning. I have always liked the Pagan calendar, the Wheel of the Year for its symmetry- Solstices, Equinoxes, and their midpoints marking the lengths of days and the passage of years. It's believed Imbolc was recognized thousands of years ago in Ireland, as the Mound of the Hostages at the Hill of Tara has a short passage which aligns with sunrise on the solar cross-quarter days.
Given Christianity's habit of assigning religious significance to dates with meaning in other faith traditions, it made sense to me that Imbolc and Candlemass coexist, just like Yule/Christmas, Ostara/Easter, and Samhain/All Hallows Eve.
But what about the Groundhog? According to the Great And All-Powerful Oz Wikipedia, both Candlemas and Imbolc have aspects of weather prognistication. German settlers arriving in the United States found a severe dearth of hedgehogs, the animals observed in the Old Country. Groundhogs, however, were readily available.
That most famous of groundhogs, Punxatawney Phil, did not see his shadow this morning, which suggests we're in for a mild remainder of winter and an early spring. Don’t put away your winter boots just yet, though, as Phil fares worse than a coin toss with ~40% accuracy. And much like their human counterparts, climate-forecasting rodents do not always agree with one another. According to this roundup, of thirteen “famous groundhogs” (I can’t believe I just typed that), 8 did not see their shadows but 5 did. Drumlin Farm’s Mrs. G, our own Official State Groundhog, saw her shadow.
I promised you something new and it’s got nothing to do with Groundhog Day. I was stunned to learn that in last night’s Iowa Caucus, due to equal numbers of caucusers (caucusi?) in both Sanders and Clinton camps, several delegates were chosen via coin toss. AYFKM??! Seriously, I had to explain to international friends that after a year of campaigning, and nonstop media coverage across the country, Our Great Democracy works in Iowa by calling heads or tails.
I’m not a caucus fan for many reasons, including the fact many people cannot be present at the appointed hour due to work, travel, or the expense of childcare. It’s an elitist method dressed up in the trappings of “look how homey and democratic this is!” So what I’d like you each to do is share how YOU think we should deal with the pesky “tie” problem at caucuses. My vote goes to Rock, Paper Scissors, although to make it more likely a winner can be obtained on the first throw, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock might be a better method.
On to what you really come here for, the Trio of Top Comments, Mojo and Pictures. Formatting guru BeninSC handily trumps Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard AND Spock!
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
Tonight’s Comments!
From peregrine kate and elfling:
I'm actually serving as scribe for elfling in nominating a really well-played observation by Garrett in this comment, which follows this post by whereistony, Ok. Lets all just take a breath and kill "Coingate" right now.
The rest of the comments there are fun, too. (Ed. note: well, mostly. ::wink:: )
Thanks as always from both of us,
p k
From Yours Truly, brillig:
Top Mojo ala mik!
For Monday, Feb. 1, 2016, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on the subject!
Top Comments with Pictures
2016-02-02, courtesy of jotter!