Happy Hedgehog Day! (Groundhog Day)
Once again Americans mess, I mean, enhance, with the original. February 2 was also celebrated in Roman times, but not as Groundhog Day. Hedgehogs are predominate in Europe and every February 2 the hedgehog would emerge from hibernation and predict the winter/ spring season. If the hedgehog saw it’s shadow, then there were 6 more weeks of winter. Since there are no native hedgehogs in the Americas, we adopted the groundhog as our most accurate weather predictor. (Didn’t think you’d get a history lesson here, did you?)
On a bit of a side note, I owned a pet hedgehog in college. It is very similar to owning a hamster except the hedgehog has a few bad habits. Their spikes are very sharp and they aren’t afraid to use them! They also take spit baths which are just gross! But all in all, Blanche the Hedgehog was a fantastic college pet!
